Take the Long Way Home
by Metal Dragoon
Summary: Follow the adventures of a new mutant in the xmen, as he shakes things up at the Institute and maybe even finds a little love. Any suggestions are welcome. Now CoAuthored and betaed by ProfesorSpork. New story arc: Tournament of the Black Tear!
1. A meeting of mutants

Take the Long Way Home

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Well, here goes.  This is the first fic I've ever written, and it appears too be the first fic with X-23 in it; at least to my knowledge.  Pairings are: X-23/OC, Lance/Kitty and Rouge/Gambit.  Flames will be used to power up my OC's mutant powers :p

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate

Chapter 1: A Meeting of Mutants

                   X-23 ran blindly through the night.  All she could think was 'He won't be able to stop them.  Wolverine can't stop them and they'll take me back to the labs.'  Gradually however she began to slow, she realized that there were no copters canvassing the woods, no dogs were hot on her trail.  In-fact the only sounds in the New York wilderness was the soft screech of an owl on the hunt and the gentle "chirrup-chirrup" of the crickets.

                   Drained; emotionally, physically and mentally, she came to a stop in a clearing.  She didn't hear; over the pounding in her ears the night creatures fall silent.  Suddenly she snapped to attention.  A strange odor had reached her nose.  The scent was… dry, like leather almost.  But whatever was the source of the odor was defiantly alive.

                   The sharp crack of a twig breaking underfoot had her reacting on instinct.  She whirled to her left and charged whatever it was, all claws fully extended.  But, as she charged she failed to notice a jutting root covered by a clump of grass.  Failed to notice that is; until her foot caught and she fell; hard.  Now this in itself wasn't so bad, after all she had an adamantium skull, but even that can't stop a concussion when your head gets up close and personal with a chunk of granite sticking out from the ground.

                   Pain exploded in her head.  She had passed out a couple of times before and knew that this was going to be another one of those times.  The last thing she saw before blackness claimed her consciousness was a large scaly three-taloned foot crushing a patch of grass near her head and that strange dry smell again. 

                   (AN: if I was really evil I could just stop this fic right here, but X-23 said she'd neuter me if I did, 0_0', so on with the show!)

                   Warmth.  That was the first thing she felt as her mind clambered up out of the pit of unconsciousness it had been thrown into.  Someone had draped a blanket over her.  The next thing that registered was the smell.  She took a deep whiff of the air.  There was a faint trace of that leathery smell, but it was all but buried under the scent of cooking meat.  The next thing she noticed was the merry crackle of a campfire going.  As she snuggled down into the blanket her only thought was 'It's nice to be warm, I've been cold for such a long, long time.

                   Her movement, however caught the attention of her 'rescuer', and he gave a dry chuckle.

                   "Heh, so sleeping beauty awakens," dryly said a smooth voice with a heavy dose of sarcastic humor in it.

                   She immediately snapped to attention, her hazel eyes flying open to lock gazes with the strangest pair of eyes she had ever seen.  They were a rusty reddish color, and still tinged with mirth.

                   "Easy," the boy murmured, "You act like I'm going to eat you." 'She'd probably be delicious if she tastes as good as she looks.  Whoa boy, rein it in; you just met this girl.  Besides you don't even know her name and even if you did she's way too good for you.'  So? Uncle always says to aim higher then you think you can reach and you just might surprise yourself. came a mental voice that carried a hint of feral power in it. 'Shut up, besides, I don't really know her at all, she could be a serial killer or something for all I know' Suit yourself the voice snapped with an injured tone.  "Speaking of eating, you're probably starved."  A loud rumble from her stomach confirmed his suspicions.

                   He gave a hearty laugh as she blushed with embarrassment.

                   "Just a little," she murmured, watching as he busied himself getting a bowl and spoon from one of the bags in the cave and then turning his attention to a small pot keeping warm in the coals at the edge of the fire, starting to ladle something into it.  'Easy there girl.  Why am I feeling this attraction too him, I don't even know his name?  Because he's, cute and he has a nice tush. came a voice from inside her head.  'Go away," she commanded.  Don't think I didn't see you check him out; I'm you. X-23 wasn't listening however.  She had returned too her study of her 'rescuer' and her surroundings.

                   He was medium height, around 5'11", muscular and had an innate, lithe grace, like a big cat, a cougar or panther, about him.  This guy was defiantly a fighter, of that she was sure.  He practically radiated power and strength, but hid it behind a mask of humor and silliness.  Had she grown up normally, she would have pegged his personality as similar to Han Solo's.  He had mussed brown hair and those strange reddish eyes.  He was dressed normally enough, faded white t-shirt, jeans, but no shoes. That was strange.

                   Finishing her inspection of her comrade, she began too examine her surroundings in earnest.  They were in a medium sized cave; with a few stalactites and stalagmites sticking up or down, depending on which they were.  There were three duffel bags lying around the cave.  The one closest to the boy was obviously his cooking utensils since he had produced bowl, spoon, and ladle from it.  One of the others had a pair of faded jean cuffs poking up out of it.  The other had a set of headphones and a cd case sticking out of one of the pockets.  Obviously he wasn't one of the neatest of people.  In the glow of the firelight, she saw something gleaming.  It was a staff; it looked like it was made of bamboo, but the shine told her that it was constructed of metal.  She reached out, intending to inspect it closer, when a quite voice froze her in her tracks.

                   "Please don't touch that," the boy said over his shoulder.  Finished with preparing the bowl of stew, he handed it to her, saying "it's my own special recipe for huntsman's stew.  Rabbit, some wild carrots and a hint of garlic for some added zing."

                   X-23's blush of embarrassment was hidden by the firelight.  'How did he…? Oh well I might as well just eat.'  As she ate, the boy sat back on his haunches, watching her.  Finally, after she had finished her second bowl, he asked the question she hadn't wanted to hear.

                   "My names Shawn, Shawn O'Reily.  What's yours?"  She started to make up a lie, like she had for countless other occasions, but found it stuck in her throat.  After struggling with herself for a moment she bowed her head and mumbled something under her breath.  Shawn leaned forward; "Sorry didn't catch that.  What was it again?"b

                   She whipped her head up, looking mortified.  "**I SAID MY NAME IS X-23 ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!**" she screeched.  Shawn sat stunned for a minute. Then he spoke up quietly.

                   "You don't have a real name do you?" the question was gentle and sympathetic.  She mutely shook her head; her eyes starting to cloud with unshed tears.  For some reason, his quite sympathy touched someplace deep within her.

                   "How about Maria then?" he asked.  She looked at him as if he were crazy.  "What? It's a really good name.  Besides;" He gave a really goofy grin, "You look like a Maria to me."

                   She gave a small watery smile.  "My names Maria, I'm glad to have met you Shawn. Maria shifted in place a moment then blurted out "Why are you helping me like this Shawn, I've never seen you before in my life?"

                   Shawn chuckled, then gave a grin that could only be described as pure cockiness, "Heh, guess I'm just a sucker for a damsel in distress."  Maria colored at this and prepared to give him a piece of her mind, but he continued, "But seeing as you could have gutted me with those claws of yours, if not for your unfortunate tumble, I really don't think you fit into that category."  Finished; he leaned back from the fire, watching the flames dance, the play of light and shadow making his eyes seem to glow like two coals at times.

                   Maria's mouth worked in astonishment.  She spluttered and stuttered for a moment before finding her voice, "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

                   He raised his head from the study of the fire, once again impressing their strange color upon her.  The grin was back, plastered all over his face.

                   "Girl, if you're not a mutant, same as me then I'm a mongoose"

                   She stared at him in shock, "Y-y-you're a mutant?!"

                   His look was one that said 'are you deaf?'  "Did I stutter?" 

                   He looked out of the cave mouth towards the lightening eastern sky, and settled back against the cave wall closing both his eyes.  He opened his left eye almost as an afterthought and looked at Maria.  "If you'll excuse me, we've had a busy night and I've got a lot of ground to cover tonight so I suggest we both get some sleep."

                   Maria saw his logic, they were both very tired, but she had one last question for this strange boy.  "Why do you travel at night; it's not as if you stick out?"

                   For a moment he just leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.  Then he spoke without moving an inch or opening his eyes.  "Two reasons; first off my mutation has a habit of cropping when its least wanted and disappearing the same way.  Secondly, I was trained to move in the shadows by my uncle, who just happens to be an S-rank shinobi.  I'm his apprentice."  He was silent after that.

                   Maria yawned and stretched before snuggling back into her blanket.  She closed her eyes and slipped into a dreamless sleep.  For the first time in her life she felt…safe.


	2. The New Arrivals

Take the Long Way Home

Second chapter folks and; some important news.  I will put up a new chapter for every five new reviews that I receive.

Maria walks in, followed by a deliriously smiling Shawn.

            Lifting one eyebrow; "What exactly have you two been up too?"

Maria just looks at me while Shawn just keeps on grinning.  I shake my head.  "Never mind, I probably don't want to know.  Just get in the fic already."

Oops!!!! Forgot the disclaimer last chapter.  Anyway; I don't own X-men evolution, **_YET_.  Ya hear that Marvel??!!  They will be _MINE!!! **MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!**  But Shawn O'Reily is mine, as will be his mutant codename.  If you want to use him ask in a review.  There is a similar character in a Yu-Yu-Hakusho fic, but I submitted him to the author so it's all good man!!_**

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate???

Chapter Two-The New Arrivals

            Maria woke to find the fire had been started; a pot of what appeared to be oatmeal keeping warm at the edge, and no sign of Shawn.  She thought of snuggling back down into her blanket but then; she heard some faint music drifting in from outside the cave.   She got up and walked outside, all the while her mind was racing.  She recognized the tune, vaguely.  She had heard it once before, during one of the "blending in" exercises that H.Y.D.R.A. had put her through.

-Flashback-

            A man sauntered into the practically deserted park where X-23 sat, a stereo on his shoulder.  Not a young man anymore, but not really a grizzled old man.  He sat down on the bench opposite her and set his stereo down, giving her a nod in recognition.  No sickeningly sweet smile, like the one that most adults did on these "outings".  He popped a tape into the deck and sat back, hands behind his head.  After a moment, sad, poignant harmonica music began to pour from the speakers, while a man sang about taking the long way home.

-End Flashback-

            It was the same tune, no doubt about it.  There wasn't any singing, but the music was just as potent as she remembered.  There was only one person in the vicinity, so he had to be the source of the beautiful tune.  As she exited the cave, she used her sensitive ears to trace the sound upwards, her eyes scanning the cliff face that the cave was situated at the bottom of.  She gasped as her eyes reached the top of the forty foot cliff.

            It had to be Shawn.  It looked **_similar_ to him.  But it had large bat-like wings erupting from its shoulders; patches of grayish scales speckled the otherwise normal skin.  Fangs peeked from the corners of its mouth, its fingers ended in sharp claws and its toes in talons.  And it was the one playing the harmonica.**

            That fact alone made the entire scene seem almost surreal.  But what happened next was all too real.  As he finished playing; the wings retracted into his back, while the fangs shrank out of sight and the claws, talons and scales seemed too be absorbed into the skin.  A completely normal Shawn stood up and stretched and started to turn around; obviously going to scale the cliff face.

That's when it happened.

            The ledge gave a sickening lurch, as a gunshot like **"Crack!!!"** split the air.  Shawn pin wheeled his arms for a moment.  Then the earth decided to drop out from under him.  His last thought before a stray rock sent him to dreamland was: 'I could have just sat on a nice rock or something, but nooooooooo I had to see how strong my wings were.'

-Time: Around 36 hours later. Place: Xavier Institute for Gifted Children- 

            Logan shook his head, sending drops of water flying.  He'd gone riding in an attempt to dispel the worry that had been gnawing at his gut.  "Damn rain," he growled, "Knew it was too good a day to last long."

            As he neared the gate he thought that he could see some sort of shape leaning up against one of the pillars.   As he got closer the rain began to let up and he could make out whoever or whatever it was.  When he got a clear look, his breath whistled from between his teeth and he felt as if he had been punched in the gut by the Juggernaut.  It was X-23.

            She was supporting a boy who appeared to be unconscious.  There was a blood stained rag wrapped around his head and one of his shirt sleeves was missing, telling him where the rag had come from.  He was battered and had bruises along his arms and what Logan could see of his back, but appeared to be otherwise unharmed.

            "Poor kid looks like he went ten rounds with Sabretooth,' was Logan's first thought.  Then he turned his attention to X-23.  She was in better condition then the boy, but not by much.  When Logan got off his bike and came up to them, she stumbled away from the wall, still supporting the boy.  As she came closer, he could plainly see the plea in her eyes.  She handed him off to Logan without a word.  When she saw that he had a good grip on the guy, she let go.  Turning as if to leave; she said: "Please, help him." She took one step forward and collapsed.

            Wolverine wasted no time.  He laid the boy on the ground, not noticing the small horns that peeked through the hair near the back of his head, and sprinted to the intercom system set into the wall next to the gate.  Slapping his hand on the speakerphone function, he didn't wait for a greeting from their resident scientist, who manned the com station round the clock.  He immediately began barking into the speaker.

            "This is Wolverine.  Beast, get out here and bring some help.  We got some guests, and they're pretty banged up."  The com crackled to life as Beast replied, "I'm on the way.  How bad are they?"  Logan's response was relieved, "They'll live but one of em's gonna have one _hell of a headache when he wakes up."_

--------Later--------

            Shawn groaned; he felt like there was an all percussion symphony touring in his head, and his brain had a season front row seat.  He lifted a hand up and rubbed his forehead.  "The kids comin round; I'll go tell Charles," came a gruff voice.  "Fine," came a different, slightly cultured voice, "I'll stay with them, so don't worry about a thing."  Footsteps sounded, leaving the room.

            Shawn sat up, holding his head in his hands and groaned, "Uuugggghhhhh, anybody get the number on that eighteen wheeler?"  He took the hand away from his eyes, and opened them.  And came face to face with what appeared to be a blue gorilla in a pair of shorts.  He blinked.  Rubbed his eyes and took another look.  'Yep, still there.'  He opened his mouth to say something and the gorilla backed away, apparently thinking that he was going to scream like a little girl.  'Man I only did that _once_ anyway; was it my fault that I was reading a horror novel at the time?'  So he nearly busted a gut at the expression on the guy's face when he said, "I think you missed a spot shaving man."

            The guy's jaw hit the floor.  After a second or two of stunned silence, he began to chuckle; then laugh, great big bellowing laughs, while tears streamed from his eyes.  Shawn began too chuckle as well.  As he wiped the last of the tears from his eyes with the back of one big hand, still chuckling all the while, the gruff voice sounded.  "Somebody tell a good joke?"

            Shawn turned to regard the newcomer.  Leather jacket, cowboy boots and hat, faded jeans and t-shirt on a frame that couldn't have topped five feet.  Grizzled features and an innate toughness that practically screamed, "Hit me with your best shot pal."  Definitely someone you wanted on your side in a bar fight, or any kind of fight for that matter.  Lean, mean and willing to put the smack down on anyone who messed with him.  This was his first impression of the man called the Wolverine.

            "Actually, it was an extremely funny joke, Logan," replied the ape.  "K' Hank, I need to ask the kid a couple a questions before the Prof. gets here."  He took a seat in the chair next to the bed Shawn was in and leaned in close.

            "First off kid, what's your name?"  "O'Reily, Shawn O'Reily; and you're Logan; unless my ears aren't working right that is."  Logan gave a smirk that matched Shawn's perfectly.  "I think I'm gonna like you kid," he chuckled, "Now, why were you with that girl when I found ya?"  He gestured too another bed where Maria lay.  Shawn narrowed his eyes as he spoke, his voice going slightly frosty. "What's it to ya?  I helped her out so I assume that she helped me out.  The last thing I remember is gettin up close and personal with a nice sized chunk of limestone, next thing I know, I'm here."  His attention seemed to waver for a moment before he looked Logan in the eyes and mouthed "keep talking".  The man looked puzzled, but complied; "I just wanna know kid."  As he finished this sentence; the boy's hand whipped over to the opposite side of the bed and dived over.  His triumphant "Gotcha!!!" was nearly drowned out by a short squeal of pain.  He pulled up his fist, with a brown ponytail clutched in it.  This was followed by the grimacing face of Kitty Pride.  "Owwww; Logan, make him, like, let go!!"  "Why were you listening in Kitty?" was his stoic reply.

            "Yeah," chimed in Shawn, "Haven't you ever heard, curiosity killed the cat?"  "But satisfaction brought him back," She shot back.  "Kitty, leave now please," came a smooth voice, with just a hint of impatience.  This came from a bald man in a motorized wheelchair, as he rolled in.  She huffed and crossed her arms, before sinking into the floor.  Shawn didn't even blink.

            "First off I must apologize for her behavior.  But you don't seem very shocked young man."  Shawn turned to face the dude in the chair.  "I've seen stranger things," he replied.  The man lifted an eyebrow at this, Do tell, sounded the man's voice in his head.  "Ghah!! don't **_do_** that!!!" Shawn yelled, pounding his heart, as if trying to restart it.  "I got enough trouble with just _one_ voice in my head, ok?"  The man just sat there for a moment, thinking.  'Hmmm, he appears to be totally at ease.'  What do you think Logan?

            'He's got guts and a sense of humor; I'd say we may have found a perfect blend of Cyclops, Bobby, and possibly me,' Came the mental reply.  "Do you know where you are young man?"  Shawn looked at him a moment, then proceeded to rattle of a string of coordinates.  Beast and Wolverine both chuckled at this one.

            "That's not exactly what I meant."  Shawn grinned, "I know, I was just messin with ya.  I'm at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children in upper New York and you're Prof. Charles Xavier.  I was on my way here anyhow.  Now can _you_ answer something for _me_?"  The professor nodded and he continued, "Is Maria okay?"

            "Do you mean the girl that brought you to the institute?" Interrupted Beast, sounding surprised.  "Yeah, why, what's wrong?"  Professor X shook his head, "Nothing, we were just under the impression that she didn't have a real name."  "She didn't, I suggested the name when she kinda got upset that she didn't have a real name.  She looked like a Maria anyway."

            "Very well then; she's fine.  Extremely tired and a little bruised, but other wise fine.  She's sleeping right now, but should wake up in a few hours."  "Good," Shawn looked over to Wolverine, "Hey I know that we just met; but could you do me a **_huge_ favor?  I left a couple of duffel bags in the cave we spent the day at while I was waiting for it to get dark enough too travel.  They've got some clothes, CD's, and cooking utensils in them; there's also a staff stuck behind them, it's mine as well.  Could you please?  I'd go myself but I doubt these guys," he jerked a thumb at Hank and the professor, "would let me go."  Logan thought about it a moment before nodding.  "Sure kid, just give me the coordinates to the place and somebody'll go pick it up."  Shawn again rattled off a set of numbers and Wolverine took his leave.**

            "There's something that's been bothering me, um Shawn, right?" Beast spoke up. Shawn nodded, "And that would be?"  "Why did 'Maria' bring you here instead of taking you to a regular hospital?"  At that moment, a ripping sound filled the air, and a long grayish scaly tail was hanging over the edge of the bed.  "Any other stupid questions?" Shawn said in a deadpan voice.

"It would seem that we have a new student at the Institute."  "Um professor?"  "Yes Shawn?"  "Would you tell the guy hanging from the ceiling and that girl that you told to leave earlier to come out now?"  Xavier sharply looked up from his steepled hands.  "Kurt? Kitty?"  "Uh-oh."  "Busted."  Xavier sighed before gesturing.  "Shawn O'Reily, meet Kitty and Kurt.  They are both students here and members of our special task team, the X-Men."

            Kurt offered his hand, which Shawn shook vigorously, not in the least affected by his strange appearance.  Kitty on the other hand, crossed her arms and gave a short, "We've met."  Shawn winced and so did Kurt.  Even he had felt the ice on that one.  "Listen, I'm sorry bout that hair pulling thing," he stuck out his hand, "Peace?"

            She considered it for a moment, then accepted the hand with a smile bright enough too light half of upstate New York, "Peace"  "Why don't you inform everyone else that we have a new student?" said the professor.  "Make that two students sir"  "Say what!!??" exclaimed Kitty.  "Maria's being chased by someone; I know that much, and I don't like it.  I figure that she'll be safer here than out on her own."  "Your intentions are noble enough, but what makes you so sure that she will listen to you, or stay at all?" queried the Prof.  "If worst comes to worst I'll challenge her to a sparring match, if I win, she stays; she wins, she can go.  She's the type who'll stick to their word even if they don't like it."  Then he gave an evil grin, "And I never lose."  You just want her to stick around so you can "get to know her better".  Remember I was at the cave too ya know came the feral voice in Shawn's head. Shut up man, I'm not _that interested in her The only response he got was a snort before the other presence left him to his thoughts._

            "Okay; Kurt, Kitty clear out of here.  He needs his rest." Beast called, looking up from his conversation with an African-American woman who possessed striking white hair.  "See ya," Kitty waved before sinking into the floor once again.  Kurt gave a grin and a wave before vanishing with a loud "BAMF" in a cloud of sulfurous smoke.  Shawn adjusted himself on the bed so that his tail wasn't getting crushed and settled in.  "I think I'm gonna like it here."

Fight time next time.  Who will come out on top?  The new kid in town or the battle hardened ex-spy?  Find out next time!

Well? What do you think?  Please, Please review!!!!!!  Flame me, criticize me; praise me; say that you're an alien named Bjorn from the pasta head nebula!!!!  Just review already.


	3. The fight

Take the Long Way Home

Here's the 3rd chapter, with action to spare.  By the way, disregard the review count thing from the last chapter.  Shawn walks in, the same stupid grin on his face as last chapter.  Okay, I may regret asking this; but what the _hell_ are you grinning about?!  His response?  "What a kisser."  Rrrrrrrriiiiiigggghhhttt; anyway, on with the fic.  And as a brother once said… "LLLEEEETTT'SSS GET RRRREADY TOO RUMBBLLLEEE"

P.S.: D-Ark of Spirit; I need a favor and from your bio, I think that you're the man for the job.  I need a list of the non-original Evo mutant's names and code names; plus the name of the two dudes that work for H.Y.D.R.A., the red Russian dude and the fella with the sonic gun thingy and a brief description of their powers.  I only caught a couple of episodes with the newer mutants so I don't know that much about them.  About the only one that I know is Bobby/Iceman.  So… help a brother out?  Just submit it as a review if you decide too help; cause I don't check my e-mail that often.  This is **_very_ important so please, please help me!!!**

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men evolution, **_YET_**.  But be assured Marvel, they will be _MINE_!!! **BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!  But Shawn O'Reily is mine, as will be his X-Men codename and Maria's as well.  If you want to use him ask in a review or I will sick his alter ego, my muse, on you!!!**

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate???

Chapter three-The Fight

            Shawn woke from his nap to find three things; his tail was gone, his stuff was piled against the end of the bed with his staff leaning against the wall near the head of the bed, and a _very_ nervous Maria was awake.

            "What's wrong?"  Her answer was in a slightly scared voice.  "Why are did they bring _me here?  I don't understand why they helped me."  This puzzled him to no end.  "What are you talking about?  Why wouldn't they?  They look like nice enough folks to me."  She remained silent.  "This is one of those things that you don't want to talk about, isn't it?"  She nodded.  They were both silent for a moment.  Shawn broke the silence, a determined look on his face, as if he was about to face an army.  "So-o-o; what are you going to do now?"  She wrinkled her forehead, as she thought about it; "Well I can't stay here; I know that much."_

            "Says who kid?"  Wolverine clomped in, cowboy hat pushed back on his head.  Maria's reaction was instant.  "What do _you want?"  "A chance to let you have a real life; that's all," was the reply.  She was obviously confused by the answer.  Shawn saw this and pressed the point even further.  "Look, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're being chased by someone or something.  So why not stay someplace where others can give you a hand if you need it."  She just shook her head and said; "After what I did here; no one in this building would be willing to help me.  Ever!!"_

            Shawn got out of the bed and walked over to her.  He appeared to have completely forgotten that his boxers had a hole near the base of his spine.  He looked her straight in the eye, and seemed about to say something extremely profound.  Then professor X. rolled in.  "I was listening to your conversation; and I assure you; everyone here is quite willing to forgive and forget.  I've explained the previous situation too them, and just about everyone agreed that they probably would have done the same thing in your place."  Maria started to look stubborn; "Be that as it may, I'm still leaving."

            "No you're not."  This came from a very determined looking Shawn.  His appearance was made all the more impressive by the horns that stuck out from the back of his head and the patches of scales on his face.  Not to mention that his strangely colored pupils had changed from round to vertical, like a cat's.  "I don't know what's chasing you but I'll be _damned_ if you're gonna face it alone.  And if you still have your heart set on leaving," he continued, as her expression went from shocked to some sort of unreadable expression, that made him slightly nervous.  Ah young love, sighed the voice that seemed to live in his skull.  Beat it man; I'm busy I can see that. Just don't do anything that's liable to get you neutered during the fight  Shawn had a momentary vision of Maria hacking off his 'tail' because he'd accidentally bumped a 'Forbidden' area; and suppressed an involuntary shudder.

            The entire mental conversation took less than a second and Shawn picked up the argument almost without missing a beat.  But the professor noticed and thought back on what Shawn had said earlier: "I got enough trouble with just _one_ voice in my head, ok?"  Perhaps Shawn hadn't been joking when he had said that.  For now he would watch and see what happened concerning this 'voice'; if necessary he would take action, but only when it was absolutely necessary.  He turned his attention back to the conversation; Shawn was putting his plan into action.

            "I tell you what.  We'll have a little sparring match.  I win; you stay.  You win; you go.  Sound good?"  She thought it over.  Do I really want to leave? Said one part of her.  You have too; if you don't then you'll put innocent people at risk Said another part of her.  Why not just accept his challenge? Questioned a third part; I can whip his cute butt and leave; easy as that.  She looked up at the three faces looking at her expectantly.  "Fine, I'll do it."

            "Perfect!" Shawn gave the same goofy grin he had given her when he had said that she 'looked like a Maria'.  "Three rules though;" He waited for her nod before continuing.  "First; since my power comes and goes, and yours is practically uncontrollable, our powers will be allowed.  Second; no going for serious injury; this is a sparring match, not a death match in the roman coliseum.  Finally;" Now he gave her a sheepish look, "No hitting or kicking below the belt."  Wolverine gave a nod at this one thinking: 'Pretty smart, that way she won't win right off the bat'  "Now do we have a deal?"  So saying, he stuck out his hand.

            She paused for a moment; then reached out and grasped his hand; "Deal!"  As they finished shaking hands, Shawn turned to the professor.  "Do you have someplace where we could do this without potentially destroying any property?"  Charles looked at Logan as he spoke.  "The Danger Room?"  Logan shrugged.  "It's cleaned up enough, so why not?"  "Danger room huh?  Sounds like fun.  It should work.  Just give me five to get my gear together."  "Very well then; Logan will show you where to go as soon as you're ready," the professor said as he wheeled out of the room.  "Maria if you want you can come with me to the Danger room."

            She hesitated for a second.  Shawn smirked; "Unless of course; you want to stay and watch me get changed?"  _That_ sent her packing!  Shawn sighed a little as the door slid shut behind her.  'Kid's got it bad,' Was Wolverines only thought.  Shawn moved over to his duffel bags and began to root through them, muttering to himself all the while.  "I know that I put them in here some…a-hah! Here they are!"

---Five minutes later---

            Maria waited nervously at the door to the danger room.  She knew that everyone would be watching this fight; seeing if she was worthy to be an X-man.  But that wasn't what had her stomach churning; it was the thought of possibly losing it during the fight and seriously hurting Shawn.  She definitely wanted to avoid that!

            'But _why_ do I want to avoid hurting him too badly?'  Because you _like him, that's why came the annoying voice of her sub-consciousness.  Do not Do to Do not Do to Do not times infinity Do to times infinity plus __one She just growled after that.  Fine but you know that I'm right huffed her sub-consciousness; before going back to its rightful place at the back of her mind._

            Padding footsteps in the corridor had her looking up from her revere.  Shawn came into view, and once again his appearance was strange.  But this time it was the _clothes_ that he was wearing!  He was wearing an orange baggy shirt with matching pants, held up by a blue strip of cloth that was wound around his waist in place of a belt.  He also wore a blue undershirt that was showing at the neck.  He also had a sort of rope sheath for his staff slung over his shoulders.  The shirt and pants had strips of cloth wrapped around the ankles and wrists, about in the way that the strip of cloth was wound around his waist so that there were no cuffs to catch on rocks or other protrusions.  Still no shoes though.  And he had a CD player clipped to his waist!

(Author's Note: Sound familiar?  If not, watch Dragonball or Dragonball Z)

            He stopped about four feet from her and grinned.  "Guess we wait for the doors, huh?"  She merely nodded.  "You know that I'm going to do my best to beat you, don't you?"  "I'd think less of you if you didn't."  She looked at him as if he were crazy.  "I'll try not to hurt you; but I don't make any guarantees."  He just flashed his trademark cocky grin at her.  At that moment, the door's slid open with a gentle 'whoosh'.  They nodded at each other and stepped through.

            Shawn let out a low echoing whistle as they walked into the huge cylindrical room.  A speaker crackled to life and Logan's voice crackled out.  "Hey kids, any particular setting you'd want to fight in?"  Shawn looked at Maria, who shook her head no. He thought for a minute then shouted; "How about a simple clearing?  But give the fight the WWF starting call."

            Up in the control booth, just about everybody looked a little confused.  Then Bobby snapped his fingers.  "I know what he's talking about!  Professor! Can I use the voice synthesizer after Beast puts up the hologram?"  The professor looked doubtful for a moment, then sighed; "I suppose.  Just don't damage it, all right?"  "Fine; I won't."

            As they stopped in the center off the room, their surroundings seemed to shimmer, before it reformed into a pristine forest clearing.  Then a deep voice boomed over the speaker.  "_Aaaaaannnnnddddd now, ladies and gentlemen, the maaain event! __LLLEEEETTT'SSS GET RRRREADY TO RUMBBLLLEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"___

            Up in the control room, everybody was looking at Bobby like he was nuts.  He looked around; "What?"

Scott and Jean just shook their heads, Rouge rolled her eyes and the rest of the girls in the room just giggled.  The guys on the other hand were giving him a look that said "Oooookaaaayyy".  The instructors just ignored him, focusing on the impending battle below.

            Back on the ground, the two combatants began to circle each other on silent feet.  One of Shawn's hands made a move and Maria tracked his hand, while still circling.  But instead of beginning an attack, he just hit the play button on his CD player!  Immediately, a kind of crackle sounded from his headphones, followed by a slow rich voice singing about a cold November wind in Okalahoma.  This confused her 'how will listening too a slow long help him fight?'  Wasting no more time in thought, she rushed forward in an attempt too end the fight right there.  But as she swung for a cross chop to his face, the music's beat picked up, and so did his reflexes!  (A.N.-for the curious the song he's got on right now is Toby Keith's "Good to go to Mexico")  So instead of landing a solid blow to his face, he jerked back and let her hand slice through empty air.  Then he launched his counter attack; four swift punches to her ribcage followed by a leg sweep.

            She took the punches, but jumped over his leg sweep.  He turned it into a sideways roll and got out reach of her fist and claws before she had a chance to strike.  He misjudged her reaction time however and met a spinning heel kick to the stomach as he came out the roll.  His breath whooshed out in a "Whoof" but he kept going.  Thus began an intricate dance of punches, kicks, and blocks, neither landing a hit on the other.  However, a lucky kick from her sent his CD player flying from his waist, taking the headphones for the ride.  This was extremely fortunate for her, because each time the songs had changed, so had his fighting rhythm.  This meant he was now staying at the same pace instead of flying all over the place, making it easier for her to gauge his movements.

            Up in the control room, everyone was watching with rapt attention.  Logan however, had a small frown as he watched.  Scott noticed this and spoke up, "What's wrong Wolverine?"  The mutant in question turned to regard the junior commander of the X-men, "Nothin, Cyclops its just that the new kids style of fighting looks kinda familiar, that's all.  But I can't remember where I've seen it before."  He paused and looked out at the fight in progress.  "Uh-oh; looks like they're staring to get serious now."

            Back in the fight both combatants had realized that they weren't accomplishing anything.  They broke apart and stood there trying to catch their breaths.  Shawn gave a smirk, "Pretty good, for a girl."  Maria's eyes blazed for a moment before an answering smirk spread across her face, "Pretty good, for a boy" she tossed back.  Shawn lost the grin, reaching up and pulling his staff from its rope sheath.  It was a six foot long ninjitsu staff known as a Bo.  "Time to take it up a notch."  Maria extended her claws, "Funny I was thinking the same thing."

            Maria dashed forward in a repeat of her opening attack, but this time it could have been deadly.  But Shawn simply swung his Bo up into a block.  Maria's eyes widened as the staff merely sparked under her claws instead of shearing right through it.  Shawn gave a grunt as he pushed her weight off of him and assumed a defensive position, Bo held at his side, tipped towards the ground, tensed and ready for the next strike.

            Up in the control room, complete and utter astonishment seemed to be the order of the day.  Bobby kept repeating "No Way!" in a broken voice, while most everyone else was trying to scrape their jaws off of the floor.  The only ones who _didn't seem shocked were Wolverine and the Professor.  Xavier had steepled his hands going into thought once again, and Wolverine had narrowed his eyes, a single thought running through his mind 'I've seen his style of staff fighting before too, I just wish I could remember _where_!'_

            Maria and Shawn stood about seven feet from each other; waiting for their opponent to make the first move.  After a moment, Shawn gave a small grunt as a familiar ripping sound filled the air.  A long scaly tail now waved through the air behind him.  Maria dashed forward once more 'Hit him while he's off balance, and end this!!' was the only thought on her mind.

            She gave a yell as she attempted a flying swipe at his staff.  She knew this would allow her too knock him off his feet, and the she could pin him for the victory.  That; was a fatal mistake.  Almost quicker than the eye could follow, his tail cracked forward like a whip and curled around both her wrists, holding them above her head.  She extended her foot claws, but he pulled something that she was sure was illegal in every known state.  He seemed to give a sharp pull on the ends of his staff, while twisting slightly.  The ends of the staff came off; still connected by a short chain.  His staff was now three pieces of metal; a foot and a half on the ends, three feet long in the center.  He proceded to whip this around her ankles and effectively stop any and all hopes of getting out of this; she was trapped!

He gave her a purely male look of smugness; and uttered two word that had her delivering a blistering oath that was probably capable of peeling the paint off of a two story house from half a mile away; "I.  Win."

            Up in the control room, the professor was deep in thought as money exchanged hands.  Maria had been the favorite to win, but Bobby had given ten to one odds on the new dude.  He was now collecting money from a disgusted looking Scott; while Jean handed over a twenty to Amara.  'It appears that this new fellow is quite quick on his feet; both mentally and physically.'  He looked over at Wolverine whose eyes were still narrowed in thought.  "Is something the matter Logan?"  The feral X-man shook his head.  "Naw, just this nagging feeling that I've seen his style of martial arts before."  "Very well then, let's all go down and welcome our two newest members; after Bobby finishes his 'underground' transactions."

            At the word 'underground' Wolverines eyes lit up.  "That's **_it_**" he said, smacking his palm with his fist.  All eyes turned towards him.  "What's it?" asked a puzzled looking Kitty.  "I finally remembered where I've seen his style of fighting; at an underground tournament I went too about a year ago.  That kid was fight in it.  I remember the nickname he went by too; 'the Merciful Dragon'.  He never hurt his opponents more than he had to but always won.  I heard a rumor that his uncle had taken him in and trained him after his parents died.  Who'd a thought he was a mutant?"

            Just about everyone was staring at him by this time.  A small cough from the door had all heads turning.  Shawn and Maria were standing in the door, an embarrassed look on his face a shocked look on hers.  The Professor was the first to break the silence.  Wheeling forward, he held out his hand, and said; "Welcome to the X-men, both of you."

Well, there's the third chapter.  Next time, Shawn meets up with a certain Cajun card player and short tempered walking earthquake.  See ya then!!

Also tell me who you think Shawn and Maria should room with.  And remember absolutely _NO_ co-ed roomies at the Institute.  And as always; read and review!


	4. Two Meetings and an Unwanted Visit

Take the Long Way Home

Fourth chapter!!!  We'll learn about one of Shawn's stranger morning habits in this chapter as well as see how he reacts when faced with representatives from the other two mutant groups that are in the area.  I _might_ include the Morlocks in the story at a later time.  Maybe.  I've also decided who Maria is going to room with; but I'm still open to suggestions about Shawn's roommate.

A **_huge_** thank you to D-Ark of Spirit; you really helped me out man.

And as for my _good_ friend Flame (insert evil grin here); two words. Bite. Me.  I don't even know what you _said; but I imagine it was fairly insulting.  That is all._

            Disclaimer:  I don't own X-men evolution Marvel; so you can put your lawyers away.  (Loud groans and assorted whines are heard from horde of vampiric lawyers)  But Shawn and X-23's name; along with both their codenames belong too me.

Chapter 4-Two Meetings and an Unwanted Visit

            Shawn groaned a moment, before sitting up in bed and looking at the clock.  It was seven in the morning.  'Damn this internal alarm clock!'  After getting a grand tour of the Institute yesterday it had ended up being fairly late.  He had wished Maria and everyone else a good night and had managed to find his room, even though he was totally brain dead.  He hadn't even seen his roomie come in; he was sawing logs a couple of seconds _before_ his head hit the pillow!  The fight had taken more out of him then he had cared to admit; and explaining his home situation had taken even more energy.  Somehow the fact that he was loaded from winning seven different underground martial arts tournaments in the past four years, not to mention defending his championship title at three of them for the past three years, seemed a concept that even Beast had trouble grasping.  Maria hadn't said a word to him after finding out he was almost an S-class shinobi, the youngest in history at age seventeen to be precise, thanks to his uncle's intense training.

            He guessed she was also a little sore about having to stay.  But right now, there was really only one thing on his zombie-like mind.  He got up, putting on a t-shirt on a reflex, and shuffled out the door; nearly going through it before realizing that it was shut.  He opened and closed it silently, and groggily shuffled off in search of his goal.

            Wolverine, Beast and Storm were all sitting at the kitchen table, mugs of coffee in the men's hands, while Storm gracefully sipped a cup of tea.  A shuffling figure appeared in the doorway and made its way into the kitchen.  It was Shawn.  "Morning kid," Grunted Wolverine; Beast and Storm giving their own morning greetings.  Shawn acted as if he hadn't heard a word.  He made his way over to the coffeepot that had just finished percolating and looked at it for a moment.

He then proceeded to pour the entire thing down his throat, no cup, not even stopping to swallow.  After he had shaken the last couple of drops from the lip of the spout, he set the pot back in the machine and turned to the speechless instructors, giving them a bleary smile and a slightly cheerful "Morning".  He then proceded to start looking through the cupboards; muttering something about cereal.  Storm was the first to regain her powers of speech.  Beast and Wolverine were both still too shocked to say anything, or form any coherent thoughts; aside from 'Did he just…?'

"Looking for anything in particular?" She asked.

He looked at her gratefully.  "Tell me where the cereal, bowls, and spoons are and I'm your slave for life."

"Bowls are two cupboards to the left and one down.  Cereal is to the left of the fridge, and silverware is in the drawer beneath the cereal."  He found all of the items he was looking for and proceded to pour himself a bowl of Honey-nut Cheerios™.  He looked up before taking the first bite when Beast cleared his throat.

"Yes?"

            "Tell me, why exactly did you…"

            "Drain the coffeepot?"

            "Exactly"

            "Old habit of mine; started when I was nine.  Don't know exactly _why_ I do it; I just do.  My uncle got into the habit of brewing two pots in the morning, one for me, one for him.  Eventually I just got my own coffee maker and used that.  But I had to leave it back at the dojo when I left."  

            One of the other facts that had come to light last night was the fact that his uncle owned and operated a small, but extremely successful martial arts dojo in the Appalachians; the Dragonfire dojo; which Wolverine had said was known as one of the best places to go to train on either the east or west coasts.  This was where Shawn had grown up.  No wonder he could fight.

            "So what are you going to do today, Shawn?" That was the professor. Maria had arrived, carrying him like a sack of potatoes, on Saturday morning.  The fight had occurred on Saturday as well, which made this Sunday.  This was usually a rest day for the students so they could have at least one day to just goof off.  Shawn would begin training to control his powers on Monday.

            The professor wheeled his way into the room, and looked questionably at the empty coffeepot, which had started to percolate once again.  Shawn had the good grace to look sheepish; while the other three adults in the room just busted out laughing.  After a brief explanation, Charles just looked resigned.  "I suppose that this is just something that we'll have to get used too.

            "Not necessarily sir."  Professor X looked at Shawn, as did the rest of the assembled people.  Rouge, Kitty and Maria had all come down around five minutes ago, as Shawn had been explaining the coffeepot incident.  Apparently all three of them were rooming together.  It was okay, because they had a bigger room than most of the other students, but it was just a _little more cramped now.  Kitty had cracked up after hearing the story, while both Rouge and Maria had had a hard time not losing it as well.  Shawn knew that the story would be all over the Institute before long._

            "I asked my uncle to send my stuff to the Institute after I had been gone at least five days.  Coffeepot included, as well as my gaming systems, my stereo and my twenty-seven inch TV.  If you want me too I can just send whatever you don't think is okay to have here back to the dojo."  As he finished, he began to look just a little miserable thinking of his PS2™, Gamecube™ and X-box™ gathering dust back at the dojo.

            "That's quite alright; as long as you allow the other students to use them as well."

            "Sure!  I have a whole collection of multiplayer games, even all three versions of 'Soul Caliber II™'; and I have 'Super Smash Bros. Melee™' as well.  We could even have tournaments sometimes!!  But to answer that question you asked me before we got sidetracked; I was thinking of just taking a look around town."

            "Very well, but be careful, there are those who would attempt too harm you, should they find out that you're a student here."

            "Relax professor, I'm always careful.  Well…except for that ledge incident; but that was a freak accident."

            It was now around eight thirty.  Shawn heard more people stirring above and decided to go get properly dressed and head out.  His attempt to make peace with Maria had ended badly; with the remainder of his bowl of cereal being poured into his lap.  Lucky thing you didn't have oatmeal instead, huh kid?  Sit on it and rotate the boy mentally growled.  Relax kid, I'm sure that she'll forgive you before the end of the millennium   This did nothing to improve his mood.  He reached his room and got changed into a pair of jeans, one of his favorite novelty t-shirts that read "What're **_YOU_** looking at?" in green letters on a plain black background, and a pair of worn tennis shoes.  He had gotten good at predicting when he was going to grow any type of clothes ruining appendages; so he figured he could get them off before they were ruined.  He took his Bo and did a slightly complicated little twist and pull maneuver.  It separated into a set of nun-chucks; these he stuck through the belt-loops on his jeans.  He grabbed his harmonica from the nightstand; then proceded to take a running jump out of the open second story window that was in the bedroom.  One perfect three point landing and about five minutes later; and he was off of the Institute's property, taking his favorite travel route.  The "aerial highway"; or as regular people called it, tree jumping.

            A pair of eyes that had a similar coloring to our hero's watched as he leapt from tree branch to tree branch into the distance.  "Well now, who might you be _mon'ami_?"  he said to himself.  The man settled back into a fork in the tree he was in and fell into thought; a deck of cards flicking from hand to hand as he pondered this new development.  He then heaved a sigh.  "Suppose ah'd best call it in," he said as he pulled a communicator out of his trench coat.

---About One in the Afternoon---

            He had trekked around town for a couple of hours, making a mental map of the place; especially noting the locations of the various fast food joints and the two arcades for future cruising. He had gotten a sandwich at a little mom and pops joint and was now nosing around a distinctly dilapidated old place.  The sign said 'Brotherhood Boarding House'.  The place had a distinct odor to it; that was certain.  But what had caught his attention was the huge oak tree growing alongside the place.

            'A perfect spot for a bit of music and a quick snooze' he thought.  He took a running jump and landed on one of the lower limbs.  He jumped up a few feet; until he found a fork in the tree that was comfortable.  It also happened to be level with one of the windows, but he ignored this fact.  "Place is probably deserted anyway," he said to himself.  He settled back and took out his harmonica.  He closed his eyes and began to play the tune for "Drift Away".

            A sudden sound jolted him from his revere.  A white haired guy so thin he looked almost twig-like was standing on the ground under him, a comical looking frown on his face.  "Hey you!" he yelled.

            Shawn made a big production of looking around before pointing too himself.  "Me?" he asked in an innocently confused voice.

            "Yeah you," the white haired guy yelled.  'Sheesh, this dude sounds like he was spoiled to the max' Shawn thought as he jumped down.  He leaned up against the tree and folded his arms, giving the twig boy a cool stare.

            "Whadda ya want?" he demanded.  The other guy was about to reply when several small explosions rocked the house.  A huge kid with a Mohawk, a bug eyed guy who _definitely needed more sun, and a brown haired guy in a leather vest all came barreling out of the house.  The huge guy had his arms covering his head as he ran, the guy in the vest immediately hid behind the side of the house and the bug-eyed  guy, who was hopping along like the energizer bunny, zipped between the two arguing parties.  Shawn blinked.  'Wait a minute, __hopping?'_

            The toad like kid took a last flying leap, and hid behind the white haired one, gibbering like a monkey in a zoo.  The only words that Shawn could make out were: Wanda; walked in, shower; and a strangled "Help me!"

            It was strangled because he was currently being throttled by a girl with red highlights in her black hair.  'This must be Wanda,' was Shawn's first thought.  Everyone seemed extremely wary of her was his next observation.  The large guy had joined the dude in the vest alongside the house, while the white haired guy was trying to talk her out of murder.  'Man I thought I was gonna get a chance to rumble.' He sulked.  Then he brightened.  'Maybe I still can.'

            He put his harmonica away, walked over, and tapped the girl on her shoulder.  She whirled around and gave him a rage filled glare.  "What!!!" she snapped, letting her grip on toad boy go slack.

            "Look, as entertaining as trying to turn his spine into pudding must be; why don't you let him go, take a few deep breaths and hear his side off the story."

            Her victim nodded vigorously at this.  "Sounds good; I like this idea.  Let's use this idea."

            "_Then," Shawn continued, "You can kill him."_

            The guy's eyes got even bigger than before; and even though Shawn had thought it impossible, he paled by about ten more shades of green.  He now looked a strange khaki color that made Shawn nauseas to look at.  The girl however dropped him, took a couple of deep breaths, turned, and walked back into the house.  The guy she had dropped gave a sigh of relief.  He then proceded to lift into the air and follow Wanda.  He noticed, and gave a shaky "Oh no," before the door slammed shut after him.  Then the screaming started.

            Shawn looked at the white haired boy, who was giving him a look somewhere between awe and utter hatred.  "Now where were we?  Oh yeah.  I believe that we were about to get into an argument, possibly with you saying some extremely unflattering things about my mother or father.  Lets just skip all that and rumble, K?"

            Everyone present looked at him like he had lost his mind.  'A couple thousand punches to the ol' cranium just might do that, but I doubt it, I got a thick skull.' He thought.  Tell me about it chuckled his internal companion.  Shawn chose not to dignify that with a response.

            Twig boy's mouth curled into a sneer before he seemed to vanish, and an insubstantial ring wearing Twiggy's clothes appeared around Shawn.  'Great, a mutant, with super speed no less,' Shawn grumbled.  Suck it up kid; you've been in situations like this before.  Just do what you did then came the voice he had come to think of as his mental 'coach'.

            Shawn closed his eyes and held his hands loosely at his sides.  He strained his ears and listened to the sound of his opponent's movements, tuning out his adversary's childish banter.  While it was true he had used this type of maneuver to follow the movements of opponents, none had ever been this fast.  There! The whistle of a fist through the air was clearly audible.  Shawn smirked as a thought came to him.  Why not?  It was only illegal in tournaments.

            Lance and Blob both winced when they saw Pietro's fist fly forward.  Then their jaws dropped as said fist, and everything attached to it, passed right through the new guy!  Pietro got up and stared as the guy he had planned on beating to a bloody pulp went a ghostly transparent, and then faded away!  A whistle sounded from the base of the old oak behind him.  He turned and stared at the guy; who gave a smile and a little wave.  Pietro charged once again…and once again passed right through his adversary, cracking his skull on the oak.  Another whistle; this time from the open window.  The guy was lounging on the windowsill, not a care in the world.  He leapt down and gave an evil smirk.

            "Afterimage technique.  You like?"(A.N.: If you haven't noticed, I use quite a few ideas from Dragonball and Dragonball Z.  But hey, what can I say?  The afterimage technique practically screams to be used by ninjas anyways.)

            Pietro shook his head to clear it, growled and was about to resume the fight when a hand clamped onto his shoulder.  It was Lance.  "Leave him alone man, he'd only make you look like an even bigger idiot."

            "Oh no I wouldn't," Shawn chuckled, "He was doing that all by himself."

            Pietro gave a final growl and headed into the house; where the screams of: 'Wanda, I can explain!' had faded away.

            Shawn brushed a bit of dust off of his shoulder as the dude in the vest came up to him, the mountain in overalls following.  "Hey, the names Lance, and this is Blob.  The guy you sentenced to death was Toad and his executioner was Wanda.  The dude you were fighting is her brother, Pietro."  Lance presented his hand with a grin while Blob just gave a nod and a grunted "hello".

            Shawn gave the dude a quick once over as he shook Lance's hand.  His impression?  Trustworthy, tough guy persona, possible emotional problems; but hey, what teen didn't have two or three hundred of those?  Then he remembered overhearing a bit of conversation between what's-her-name, Amara, yeah that was it, and Kitty.  The princess had apparently been teasing Kitty about her crush on some bad boy named Lance.  Was this the same guy?  'Only one way to find out.'

"Wait a sec; would you happen to know a girl by the name of Kitty Pryde?"  At the mention of Kitty, Lance went redder than Wanda's highlights and started to look a little wistful.  "Never mind, you just answered my question".

Blob however had gotten a look of fierce determination at the mention of the X-man. (Is it X-man or woman when you're talking about the girls in singular form?  Just curious.)

"You're an X-man?" the question was charged with something that Shawn's years in the tournaments had taught him to recognize quite well; rivalry.

"Shawn O'Reily, king of butt whoop, doctor of destruction, and master of disaster; at your service."  He said, giving a mock bow and a grin.  Blob just turned and lumbered into the house, muttering something about 'another X-geek'.

Shawn gave a mock pout.  "Was it something I said?"  Lance started laughing.

After he was down from guffaws to chuckling, he gave a brief rundown of the rivalry between the Brotherhood and the X-men.  Shawn just shrugged.

"Eh; so what?  The soldiers during the Civil War soldiers would get together and played cards during a cease fire; so what's to stop you and me from being buds?"

Lance gave a conspiratorial grin as he answered, "Nothing, nothing at all."

Shawn took a glance at the sun and blanched.  It was nearly two!  "Hey man I gotta go, catch ya later?"

            "Sure; hey, maybe we could play cards sometime?  I'm a pretty good poker player"

            "I'll see what I can do man.  Later!"

            As Shawn made his way back to the Institute, he had to pass through a thick copse of trees.  When he got near the center he stopped.  One hand moved down and rested on one of his nunchuckas.  "You can come out now; or I can come and get you; your choice."

            A soft chuckle reached his ears as a glowing playing card floated down in front of him.  Shawn took one look and got the hell outta there!  He heard the explosion behind him as he stopped in the middle of a clearing in the center of the trees.

            "Relax _mon'ami_; I jus wanted to get your attention," came a voice from his left.  Shawn looked over and glared as his assailant unwound himself from his leaning position against a tree.

            'About as tall as me, muscular but not bulky, black eyes with red eyes, mutant with some sort of explosive power, weird hat thing, and an extendable staff.  Left handed by my guess.  Probably give me a run for my money in a fair fight,' Shawn thought.  'Better be blunt and to the point with this one.'

            "I really dislike having explosive cards being thrown at me; if ya can't tell." he snarled.  "So who the hell are you?" 

            "The name's Gambit.  My boss wants to make you an offer; leave the X-men and join the Acolytes.  We're a better bunch than them anyway."

            "Let me think about it; ummm how does _hell no_ sound to you?  I'm the type of guy who puts all his money on one horse; ya know?  So I'll have to say thanks, but no thanks.  Besides," he continued, "I got a responsibility at the Institute."

            Gambit sighed.  "Listen ah can understand not trusting me or my boss, hell ah don't even trust him.  But orders are orders.  So either we rumble or you come with me willingly."  As he said this, he hefted his staff into an attack position.

            Shawn however, was thinking on what Gambit had just said.  'So he doesn't like his boss, huh?  Maybe I can turn this possible enemy into an ally.'

            "Listen, why should we fight?  I haven't got any grudge against you, likewise for you, right?  So why not be buds?  I tell ya what; I got another guy who's making noises about getting a poker game together sometime.  Ya want in?  All ya gotta do is bring the cards.  The non-explosive kind, I mean."

            Gambit thought the proposition over.  'It's been awhile since I've had a good game of poker.  And it would cheese Magneto off; always a plus.  I could always bring Colossus if I need backup.  He needs to get out of the base anyhow.'  The Cajun gave a roguish grin (pun not intended) and stuck his hand out.  "Why not?  I'll just tell my boss that ya ran like a rabbit after the card blew and I couldn't catch ya."

                        Shawn gave his trademark grin as he took the Cajun's hand in a rough handshake.  "Since he doesn't know me that should work fine.  I think you and I are going to get along just great.  By the way, the name's Shawn O'Reily"

            Gambit gave a grin and a nod; then proceded to vanish among the trees.

            Shawn crested the last hill between him and the Institute and looked down.  He assumed a worried expression as several rather, shall we say colorful, terms spewed from his mouth.  He shot down the hill towards the mansion; where three black copters were parked on the back of the grounds.  He didn't know what they meant, but he was sure it was trouble.  Something in his gut told him so.  As he got closer, he could make out the insignia on the bodies of the choppers.  They said S.H.I.E.L.D.

I don't think Fury stopped by for a friendly chat with Wolverine.  What's gonna happen next?  Find out next chapter, cause I aint gonna tell you right now!


	5. Fury gets a headache

Take the Long Way Home

_            Now_ you find out why Fury is in town.  I won't give any hints, but I just hope he's got life insurance.  D-Ark, I went over my previous chapters; you and Flame were right.  I'll try and rectify the situation.  And Flame? Next time you want to tell me something, just spit it out.  I'm kinda stupid in some respects.  And if _any of you repeat that, I __will find you._

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men evolution; but I can always dream can't I?  But Shawn and Maria, in personality at least, are _mine_!

Chapter 5-Fury gets a headache

            As Shawn burned rubber towards the Institute he could pick up the sounds of a massive argument.  He recognized one voice, namely because it was using some fairly imaginative curses every second word, as Wolverine

            'Something's going down.' Shawn thought.  Ya think?! came the sarcastic reply.  Shawn would have given a blistering retort, except at that moment something came into view that caused all rational thought to vacate the premises, and blind fury to take the helm in its absence.  Maria was in some sort of electronic shackles and under the guard of several men who were armed with what appeared to be extremely powerful tasers, as well as some seriously lethal looking artillery.  And she was sobbing.  Uh…kid? No response. Shawn? Nada. Uh-oh

            Shawn gave a strangled growl, scales popping out over his face, arms, and neck; and proceded to rush at the nearest unfamiliar face.  That face just happened to have a patch over one eye and was currently engaged in a heated argument with Wolverine, Beast, Storm and the Prof.  The sap never saw what hit him.

            Agent Nick Fury had been in the middle of trying to convince the instructors to let S.H.I.E.L.D. take custody of X-23, or 'Maria', as she now insisted on being called, when he suddenly found his neck in the grip of a seventeen year old kid that either had a serious skin condition, or was currently being covered in scales.  A pair of bat-like wings was sprouting from his shoulders, a long tail whipped through the air behind him, and he appeared to have claws, fangs, talons, and a small spike on the end of his nose.  And currently looked quite capable of murder.

            "You have four seconds to get her out of those shackles before I rip your spinal cord out and use it as a jump rope."  'Definitely capable of murder,' was Fury's first thought.  The sound of several automatic weapons being aimed at the back of the kids head didn't even seem to phase the reptilian teen.  Fury looked over at the instructors with a slightly worried expression.

            "He's bluffing, right?" he asked.  Wolverine gave him a measured look and a shake of his head that said it all.  Unfortunately, this comment had only served to make the boy even more enraged.

            "**_BLUFFING_??!!!!" he roared. He seemed about to say something else, but the words appeared to stick in his throat.  Fury actually thought that he could see smoke rising from the teen's nostrils, but that wasn't possible, was it?**

            Apparently it was.

            SHAWN, TURN YOUR HEAD; NOW!!!! The mental voice that seemed to guide Shawn whenever he needed help most cracked like a whip in his mind.  Shawn obeyed out of reflex.

            And proceded to blast a fiery hole in the grass five feet wide and a foot and a half deep.  Everyone stared, first at the crater, then at Shawn; then back to the crater.  Shawn, in his shock, had dropped Fury.  He stared at the crater for a moment, and then spoke.

            "Well **_that_ was new." **

            "I guess we know exactly what his mutation can do now," murmured Beast.   Storm nodded in agreement.

            Fury got up, dusting himself off, looked at the hole, then at the holes creator.  Apparently this was the kid Wolverine had told him would make his existence a, quote "Living hell", if he tried to remove X-23 from the institute by force.  "Interesting," was the first thing that came to mind.

            Shawn snapped out of his trancelike state to glare at the agent.  "I almost barbeque your a** and all you can say is _interesting_!  And I'm pretty sure that those four seconds are up."

            At that moment, the pounding of feet was heard.  The other students had heard the explosion and had come running.  Sam and Rahne were the first to round the corner, and heard this little announcement.  "_You_ did that!?" Sam nearly shrieked, pointing towards the smoking crater.

            "No the tooth fairy did; who do ya think did it?" came the sharp retort.  Shawn appeared to be rapidly developing a tic (A nervous twitch for the uninformed.) in his left eye; apparently he had a tenuous grasp on an already slippery temper.  He whirled to face Maria's guards and gave a grin that would have made Jaws proud.  "I believe I told you to take those off of her.  Since you can't or won't; I will."  He stepped forward, his intentions easily readable in his eyes; right into the barrel of a plasma rifle.

            "T-take one m-more step and y-you're fried gator bits," quavered the Lieutenant.  Shawn would have gladly debated this if a low growling behind him hadn't caught his attention.  He turned to see that he had backup.

            Rahne was in werewolf mode and Sam looked ready to use any one of the soldiers as his landing pad; with Amara and Roberto glowering, and flaming, behind them.  Bobby was tossing a very sharp looking icicle from hand to hand, eyes narrowed; Tabitha had a malicious grin and several 'cherry bomb's' primed and ready, while Scott had a hand near his temple, ready to blast.  Ray and Kurt were both at the ready, the voltage was turned _waayyy_ up on Berserker's fists, and the German was ready to 'BAMF' into action.  A sharp 'SNKT', a deep growl, and a rumble of thunder from the rapidly darkening sky all told the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives that the sergeant had made a _verrrrryyyyyy_ bad move.

            (A.N.: I'm taking a page out of D-Ark's book if that's ok with him.  Tabitha is with the X-men in this story.)

            The professor wheeled into the middle of what could have become World War III and held up his hands as he urged every to calm down.  "Everyone go into the mansion, we'll sort this out, _without_ destroying anymore of the grounds."  As he said this he sent a quick mental plea to Logan.

            "Move or you all get fifteen extra sessions in the Danger Room of 'Cat and Mouse'!"  'Cat and Mouse' was one of the most feared training sessions; you went one on one with the feral X-man in a forest setting based on his home in the Canadian Yukon.  Everyone who had been subjected to one of these called them 'the sessions from hell', even Scott.

            Every one of the X-men and New Mutants grudgingly moved towards the mansion.  As Rahne left, she was deep in conversation with her wilder side.  The Scaled One is like us, pup her wolven side said.  How so? I could sense the presence of another being within him, like I am within you, pup  A dragon inside 'is head?  That is what you would term it, yes.  But it is far older than he is, older than even the Old Hunter (Logan)  Do you think the Professor should know?  If the Wheeled One needs to know we shall tell him.  But I sense no ill intent from this spirit If you say so… She was jolted from her conversation by Sam putting a hand on her shoulder.

            "Ev'ry thing ok?" he asked; faint concern in his eyes.

            "Aye, jus talking wit the wolf.  She says the new boy is like I am, but the wolf says whatever's in his head is much, much older than he actually is.  She doesn't think that it has bad intentions, so I'm guessing we should prob'ly wait, Shawn'll tell us about it when he's ready."

            "Alrighty then, race y'all to the rec room!"  With that the two friends took off, confident that their instructors would handle the situation.  But something nagged at the back of the lupimorphs mind.  You should act on these feelings lest he be distracted by another, pup I'll be handling it in me own way, and in me own time! If that is what you wish

            As the teens all trooped into the mansion, they found Rouge, Multiple, Jubilee, and Jean coming to investigate.  Some of them stopped to fill them in on the situation.

*Back with our hero*

            Storm had managed to calm down enough that she could calm the thunderstorm that was coming in.  Wolverine and Beast were currently trying to keep Shawn from taking a swipe at the sergeant that had threatened him with a well done death.  Beast had him in a full nelson, while Wolverine kept him from throwing any punches.   Maria had stopped crying when Shawn had done his little pyrotechnics display and was now struggling against her bonds.  Two of the guards readied tasers to subdue her.

            "Stand down," Fury ordered.  The agent turned to look at the two who had been about to rip the offending agents to pieces.  Wolverine calmed down with effort, and Beast loosened up his grip on Shawn.  "Look, if it were up to me I'd let her stay; she obviously wants to stay.

            Maria interrupted.  "It's not a matter of wanting to stay or not."  Everyone looked at her, a glimmer of hurt being quickly suppressed in Shawn's eyes.  "It's a matter of honor.  I made a wager and I am bound to honor it after I lost."

            Fury held up a hand.  "Hold it a minute, what's this about a wager?"  'This is probably gonna give me an even bigger headache,' he thought, massaging the bride of his nose with his other hand.  He had already decided to make sure that that idiot Lieutenant was bumped down to at _least a corporal, and now he had to figure out what the hell was going on here._

            "Simple," Shawn said.  His inner companion had had to do some very fast talking to keep the soldiers from being turned into small bite sized chunks of ash.  He was significantly calmer now.  "I made a wager with her.  We have a fight; she won, she could leave, she lost, she had to stay.  She lost.  Now get her out of those @#$#$%^%*@# cuffs before I lose my temper again!"

            The arguments could have heated up (Pun intended) again if Beast hadn't asked a smart question.  "Excuse me agent Fury?"  At the agent's nod the scientist/ape continued.  "Why exactly does Maria have to go with you?"

            "My superiors believe that she may cause trouble if left unattended.  I personally think she would cause more trouble at a base then she would here and would gladly leave her with you people if I could."

            "Why not put her on a sort of probationary period?  If she hasn't caused trouble within a certain length of time, she is to be left alone by S.H.I.E.L.D., permanently.  What do you think?"

            Fury ran a hand through his hair before giving a sigh.  "I'll run the idea by the higher ups.  Until they give me an answer on this, I believe it best for all parties involved that she remain at the institute."  He turned to the Lieutenant.   "Lieutenant, release the prisoner, _now_!" he growled.  The soon to be private gulped and entered a sequence of numbers onto the keypad that was on the shackles Maria was wearing.  They gave a click and fell off.  The man then backpedaled away from the clone, until he was back within the comparative safety of his group.  Fury turned to board the lead copter, saying over his shoulder as he left, "If my superiors don't like this idea, I'm afraid that she _will_ have to come with me next time."

            "Fine, but next time, come alone, ok?  The idiot squad is likely to become the deep fried squad if they show up around here again," Logan responded.

            Shawn ignored the agent and turned to see how Maria was holding up.  "You ok?" he asked.  Her response was a fist to his gut.

            "I didn't want or need your help!  Leave me _alone!!  I could have just escaped, so just let me handle things by myself!"  So saying, she headed for the woods on the edge of the Institute's grounds.  As she raced off, Logan made a move as if to follow her, but Beast laid a hand on his shoulder.  "Let her go my friend," he murmured, "She needs to sort some things out apparently."_

            Shawn sat back on his knees and clutched his stomach.  "Ouch.  Remind me never to try the white knight routine on her," he groaned.  Logan squatted down next to the boy and gave him a hefty slap between his wings.

            "Cheer up Scaly, she just needs some time to herself.  Anything broken?"

            Shawn prodded at his ribs a moment before answering.  "Just my ego," he replied.  Then he noticed the state his clothes were in.  "Awww man! This was my favorite shirt and pair of jeans!"  As he spoke, his reptilian features seemed to melt back into his skin.

            The professor and Dr. McCoy both gathered round the young man.  "I believe we may need to run a few tests on you Shawn," Beast said

            "Fine, just no needles."  He shuddered.  "I absolutely _hate getting shots."_

            "I'm afraid that we may have to take some small blood samples, but nothing…major.  Logan, could you please take him to the med bay?  It appears he's fainted."

            "Fine Chuck; but I wanna watch when he comes round."  The X-man gave a malicious grin.  "It should be fun."

Well?  Not as long as my previous chapters, but I had a tough time writing it all out.  And here's some character flaws for ya, he's got a short temper _and_ he's afraid of needles!  (Huge crowd points and laughs at Shawn "HAH-HA!")  Anyways Caliente, I'm working on the poker game, it should be in one of the next three or four chapters.  And I'm leaving the choice of Shawn's roommate in my reviewer's hands.  Three votes for the same dude nets them the honor of being Shawn's roommate.  So…Read & Review!!!


	6. Bad BoomBoom, Bad!

Take the Long Way Home

Here's the sixth chapter!  And for those of you wondering about the little sob fest Maria indulged in…  Maria busts in howling for blood.  "WHERE IS HE?!!!"  **_Gulp_**.  I run and hide behind Shawn.

            Hide me.  Shawn glances at said bloodthirsty amazon and looks at me like I've grown an extra head.

            "Are you **_insane_?!?!  I'm heading out right now."  He takes a flying leap into my computer.**

            Coward!  Maria unfortunately hears me and comes gunning for me.  Wait a cotton-picking minute; I'm an all powerful author!  I snap my fingers and she's sucked into the fic.  Now before we were so rudely interrupted, wouldn't you start crying if you were going back to the sort of place she had escaped from?  I'm pretty sure that S.H.I.E.L.D. had plans for her, and they probably involved labs.

            Also, since no one appears to want to vote on who Shawn's roomie should be, I've decided who he'll be rooming with on my own.  Poor, poor Sam.

Disclaimer: No own, so no sue. Except for Shawn and any thing relating to him that isn't based on something else.  P.S: If that last part confused you, don't worry it confused me too.

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate???

Chapter 6- Bad Boom-Boom, Bad!

            It had been two weeks since Fury had left and they had finally gotten word back from him in the form of a letter.  Beast's idea had met general approval from his superiors.  Maria would be under watch from a distance; if she got out of line in any way that would cause harm to the general public she would be taken into custody and transported to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

              In the meantime, Shawn had formed a budding friendship with Bobby and Jamie.  This had begun a few days after the 'Fury incident', when they had both set out to prank Scott at the same time without knowing it.  It went down like this.

            Bobby had asked Jamie to keep watch while he doctored Scott's shampoo.  After Bobby had left to fetch his supplies, Shawn had shown up.

            "Yo, J-man!  Listen, I kinda need a favor.  Could you keep watch for me while I mess with Mr. Up-tight's toothpaste?"  Shawn had come up with nicknames for most of the occupants of the Institute, excepting the professor, Beast and Storm, almost as soon as he had observed their personalities, or simply heard their real names.

            Jamie, never one to pass up the opportunity for mass chaos, had agreed almost instantly.  Shawn went in, a small bottle in one hand.  As Shawn had left, Bobby had passed by, a bottle of hair dye in hand.  The two pranksters had nodded at each other, and that was that.  Until the next morning that is.

            It was Saturday, and Shawn usually slept in on Saturdays; but since he hadn't wanted to miss his handiwork, he was up earlier than usual (Read: before two).  Everyone except for Scott was downstairs when he made his appearance, followed by his usual morning ritual.  Maria was poking at her eggs at the far end of the table, while everyone chatted around her.  She had seemed to settle into a sullen, sulking mood after the incident with Fury.

            There was some good news however.  Wolverine had talked with her, and whatever problems that the two had had seemed to be reconciled.  And she wasn't being shunned by the others either.  Kitty had attempted to get her opinion on fashion, once or twice but had left the ex-spy alone when she didn't respond.

            Shawn grabbed a plate and dug in.  Storm and Jean were doing the cooking.  When the enraged howl of "BOBBY!!!!" rang out, he sniggered and continued eating.  An apoplectic Scott came barreling in, headed straight for the Iceman.  Quick reflexes were the only thing that kept said prankster from immediate strangulation.

            Everyone, excepting Logan and Shawn, had stopped eating to see what the commotion was about.  Maria had stopped staring at her plate and was instead staring at Scott's head, along with everyone else.  His hair was a brilliant tropical green.  He opened his mouth to yell again, when Jean gasped, "Scott, what happened to your teeth?!"

            Scott stopped advancing on Bobby, who was currently hiding behind Jubilee's chair and turned to look at her.  "My teeth?"

            "They're blue One-eye," Wolverine said as he helped himself to another piece of bacon.  Scott ran his tongue over his teeth; the tip was a dark blue, while the teeth themselves were a lighter shade.  All eyes turned to lock onto Bobby.  He held up his hands and shook his head.

            "I only messed with the shampoo; I didn't do anything to the dental care stuff."  At this point Jamie and Shawn lost it.  Shawn started chuckling, while Jamie had a giggle attack.  The room's occupants regarded them with suspicion.

            "Which one of you did it?" the professor asked.  Shawn's chuckles had progressed to all out laughs.  All he could do was raise a hand weakly, practically in stitches.  "Very well then. The three of you are confined to the Institute for a week.  Jamie, I'm including you because you obviously helped carry this out in some way."  Jamie looked like his dog had just died.  "Bobby, after school, you will report directly to the Institute," he paused, "I'm also putting all three of you on Danger Room cleanup duty for the week."  This stopped any and all laughter from the guilty parties.

            After Jamie had stopped blaming the two older boys for getting him into trouble, (which had taken the combined efforts of a rare card from Shawn's Yu-Gi-Oh deck [A first edition 'Barrel Dragon'] and some rides on Bobby's ice sled), they had found that they all had a natural talent for pranks.  So what did they do?  Put their heads together and whip up some pranks that they couldn't possibly pull off on their own.  They now had some fairly ingenious plans cooking, but they all needed a bit of fine tuning before being put into action.

            In the meantime Shawn's training was going fairly smoothly, he could now sprout wings and/or a tail if he concentrated hard enough.  Keeping them there was going to take a lot more work.  Both he and Maria had received codenames as well.  Hers was 'Wildcat', Shawn had suggested it (Surprise, Surprise), and his was 'Draco' (Ten points if you can guess why). 

            While the training was going on, Beast had been conducting a series of tests on the blood and scale samples that he had obtained from Shawn.  The results were extremely interesting, to put it mildly.  His blood was fairly normal, with the exception of a chemical that was also present in both Amara and Roberto's blood, except in them it was at far greater levels.  This chemical was what kept them from frying alive when ever they used their powers, or in Amara's case what just kept her from frying.  In essence, Shawn was partially fire-proof.  The scales had the consistency of Kevlar, and appeared to be almost as tough.  If they grew any thicker, Shawn would have an organic suit of armor that would be fairly impressive, though not on the same level as Colossus' or the Juggernaut's.  The most astounding finding however was this: from Beast's analysis, Shawn was only partially tapping into his mutation!  This had shocked even Shawn himself; he had believed that going partially reptilian and spitting up the odd ball of flames was as far as his mutation went.  Now he trained to not only master that part of his mutation that he could tap into, but to unlock the rest of his powers as well.

            On the Wednesday of the three prisoner's incarceration, Shawn's belongings had arrived.  The game systems had been an immediate hit with everyone; unfortunately, the three were not allowed to play them as part of their punishment.  Also, Sam had been a little peeved to find that part of the room that he and Shawn shared had been turned into a music stand, with a keyboard/synthesizer and an old fashioned reed flute, but after being promised unlimited use of the keyboard as long as he didn't break it, had gotten over it fairly fast.

            Sunday had finally come however, and the three of them were off the hook.  They had immediately laid claim to the Gamecube after breakfast; and were currently engaged in a vicious three way battle between Link, Bowser, and Pikachu.  That was when the valley girl, the klepto, and ex-spy had shown up.  Maria was arguing loudly with her roommate.  "I'm not going shopping, and that's final!"

            Kitty was apparently the head of the 'get the ex-spy new clothes' delegation, as she simply rolled her eyes and kept up the argument.  "But, like, you need some new clothes!  No offense, but that outfit is like, totally ratty."  Maria gave an exasperated sigh; this had been going on for the past week and a half.  Threats hadn't worked, neither had ignoring them; apparently her roommates were extremely determined.  'Maybe they're right.  It couldn't hurt anything to have new clothes for once, could it?'

            "Fine, but only one or two outfits, I don't really need two closets worth of clothes."  And that was how she found herself in a trendy clothing store in the mall with twenty different outfits picked out.  After they had gotten there, she had found herself more and more interested in the process of picking out and trying on the different clothes.  When they _finally_ got to the register, she had a total of ten different pairs of shoes, seven blouses, twelve t-shirts, six pairs of slacks, eight pairs of jeans, and two pairs of pajamas.

            "Oh man, we don't have enough money!" Kitty moaned as she searched through her purse.  Tabitha gave a wicked little grin.

            "Oh, yes we do."  So saying, she produced a leather wallet with the words "$Pay up Punk$" worked into it.

            Kitty's eyes got really big, but before she could protest, Boom-Boom lifted a hand.  "Relax, it's from the institute.  I 'borrowed' it from her boyfriend."  As she said this she jerked a thumb at Maria, who was getting a little red.  "So, let's go back and grab some accessories too."

            Kitty thought it over.  "As long as we pay him back, I guess it's alright… hey! Wait up!"  As soon as she had reached her decision the other two had taken off, Tabitha dragging Maria behind her, the latter protesting at being called Shawn's girlfriend.

--- Back at the Institute---

            Shawn had just finished showing the guys the power of the pika, and was thinking about heading out to say "hey" to Lance, and see if he could get the details for the card game together, as well as cruise that one arcade that had caught his attention, the 'Impact Zone'.  It looked cool, with several fairly hard to find shoot-em-up arcade games visible in the window.  He just had to find his @*($#&* wallet!

            "Hey Berto," He hailed the Brazilian as he passed, "you see a leather wallet that has '$Pay up Punk$' worked into it?  Cause I can't find it."

            Roberto stopped and thought for a moment, mumbling to himself.  "Hmm; maybe…, no that was a pleather wallet of Jamie's.  Oh yeah!"  He snapped his fingers.  "I saw Boom-Boom stick it into her pocket when she left with Kitty and Maria."

            Shawn went pale as he thought of his cash in the hands of three spend-happy females; especially when one was a wardrobe challenged ex-spy.    I think your cash supply is sinking faster than the Titanic chuckled his mental companion.  Shut _up_ already Shawn shot back.  Fine, be that way his inner dragon sniffed, and then withdrew to 'his' corner of their shared mind.  Shawn grabbed Roberto by the arm.  "Which way's the mall?!"

            Roberto thought for a minute before giving his reply.  "Other side of town; can't miss it."  He had barely finished before Shawn was gone, a faint "Thanks" lingering in the wind his departure had kicked up.

---Ten Minutes Later---

Shawn was racing through an alley, hoping and praying that they hadn't found the two hundred he had stashed in the hidden little pocket in his wallet.  That's when the familiar sound of a fist striking flesh met his ears.  He turned a corner to find several specimens of _Jockus Meatheadius; subspecies: _Idiotus Compleatus_ surrounding a familiar looking amphibian._

            Two of them had Toad's arms forced behind his back while the apparent leader was about to deliver a punch that probably would have burst one of the poor guy's kidneys.  The rest were hooting encouragements along the lines of "That's it Duncan!" and "Pound his mutie a** into the freaking ground!"  Some of them appeared to either be drunk or fairly well on the way there.  Shawn's blood started to boil.  There were only a few things that could make him think about disemboweling someone, but bullying was number two on the list.  'Time for a lesson in manners.'

            "Let him go, ya bunch a jackasses!!"  Duncan turned to regard the intrusion on his 'fun' with a glare of annoyance.

            "He's a f***in mutie!  He deserves this!"  Duncan responded, his legendary flash fire temper sparking.

            "For what?  Existing?  Than I guess that you guys must be some pretty big heroes, beating on an unconscious mutie."   The unknown kid began to clap derisively, a sneer of contempt pasted on his face.

            One of the drunker members of Duncan's crew, a linebacker on the team called "The Tank", got up and headed towards the boy, fists balled and ready to smash something.  "Shut up, you little mutie lover!"  He swung with a devastating punch that most of the football team had seen drop a guy twice his size, even when he was drunk.  The kid ducked under his swing and planted one right across his chops.  "The Tank" dropped like a ton of bricks.

            At this point, Toad became secondary to this new freak.  The guys holding him dropped and left him, getting into position beside the rest of the more sober members of the gang.  Duncan gave a malicious chuckle as he surveyed the odds.  Twelve to one; even a good fighter would go down under those odds.  He balled his fists and charged at the boy, yelling "Get him!" as he went.  The rest of the gang gladly obeyed.

            Shawn surveyed the wall of pissed off jocks coming at him and sighed.  Any requests? asked his mental sidekick.  Shawn thought for a millisecond.  "Another One Bites the Dust" please As he dodged the first fist, the beginning chords of the classic song sounded in the back of his mind.

---Back at the Mall---

            The three shoppers had exhausted their filched funds, except for a twenty that they had decided to save so they could truthfully say that they hadn't spent all of the money.  All in all, they had spent most of the seventy dollars that they had found in the wallet.  They were currently lounging at the food court, talking and sucking on slushees. Maria was getting a little hyper from her first taste of highly concentrated sugar.

            "Like, what do you think of Shawn, Maria?"  The ex-spy was caught off guard by the question, having been debating on whether she should get another one of those Mountain Dew slushies. (Sugar _and caffeine plus someone not used to guzzling mass amounts of either.  Can you say sugar rush of the century?  Aieesh!)  Kitty had an innocent look on her face, despite the personal nature of the question._

            Maria looked puzzled for a moment before responding.  "He's nice I guess and a brilliant fighter anyway you look at it."  She looked wistfully back at the Slushee stand.   "Do we have to give him a _twenty back?  Couldn't it be a ten instead?"_

            Tabitha laughed aloud at the look on Kitty's face, then turned to Maria, who was shaking her cup around to make sure that she hadn't missed a drop of the precious sugar rich fluid.  "What Kitty's trying to ask in a round about way is; do you like Shawn as in _like_ him, like him?"

            Maria looked at her companions for a moment before it clicked.  Then she went so red it looked like she was about to burst into flames.  "Of-of course not!  Just because he's a good fighter, beat me, andhehasacutebutt doesn't mean that I automatically feel an attraction for him."

            "Hold on, did you just say he had a cute butt?" Tabitha asked.

            Kitty gave a short squeal, "I knew it!"  Then she paused for a moment. "His butt's not as cute as Lance's."  After she said this she began to pout a little.

            "Still regretting what you said?" Boom-boom asked.  Kitty nodded.  "Why not apologize?  I'm sure he misses you as much as you miss him."  Tabitha knew she was slipping into big sister mode, but didn't care.

            "Who are you talking about?"  Kitty jerked in surprise.  They had forgotten that Maria was there!  "Boy trouble."  Tabitha said, as if it explained everything.  Maria gave a nod, then returned to looking wistfully at the Slushee stand.

---Back at the Alley---

            Shawn surveyed the wreckage.  Three of the jocks were still standing; the rest had decided it was nap time.  Toad had woken up near the end and had bowled over his two former jailers, knocking them out on the ground.  He was now huddled up behind Shawn, nursing his wounds.  The three remaining goons, Duncan and his two lieutenants, had stayed at the back of the pack, waiting for the kid to tire out so they could move in and claim the win, their usual plan.  This time however, the plan hadn't worked.  This guy was barely sweating!

            "What the hell _are_ you?" asked Duncan's second in command, a fast talker named Frank.  The kid ignored him.

            "He asked you a question you little mother f***er!" Duncan snapped.

            _That got his attention. Shawn's eyes flashed as he stared at Duncan.  That was numero uno on Shawn's disembowelment list, the big red button that said "Do not press this; and if you do; may God have mercy on your soul."  "No one, and I mean _no_ __one says _anything_ bout my momma!!!!"  So saying; he rushed the trio.  He gave a hard left to Frank and a swift spinning kick to the solar plexus of the other guy.  Finally he rounded on Duncan, who was looking for an escape route.  No way out.  "Never. Ever. Say. Anything. About. My. __Mother!"  Shawn punctuated each word with a jab to the stomach.  On the word 'mother', he leaned back and brought an uppercut almost straight up from the ground to smash into Duncan's cleft chin.  The jock went down like a pole-axed bull._

            Shawn gave a satisfied snort, and turned to help Toad to his feet.  "You okay?"

            Toad shook his head a moment, and nodded.  "Yeah, I'm okay yo."  He turned around and began to hop away.  He got two hops away before collapsing in pain.  Shawn shook his head in pity.

            "C'mon, I'll give you a lift to the boarding house."  So saying, Shawn closed his eyes, concentrated, and proceded to sprout both wings and tail.  After some experimentation he had found that the tail was necessary for flight.  Without it, he couldn't maintain his balance in the air.

            Toad looked on, a small worried frown on his face.  "So what ya gonna do?  Stick me on your back and fly me there yo?'

            Shawn grinned.  "That's the plan."  He used his tail to pick the smaller boy up and deposit him on his back, right between his wings.  He had also learned that his tail was completely prehensile.  Toad had no choice but to wrap his arms around the larger boy's neck as they took off.

            Three minutes later they landed at the Hood's boarding house.  Wanda had watched them land from the doorway, a sandwich in one hand.  "What do you want X-man?" she spat.

            "Good to see you again too.  I'm just providing a taxi service for your boyfriend."  He jerked a thumb at his passenger, who appeared to be in a state of shock.

            Wanda took a closer look at the comatose amphibian.  "Is he alright?" she asked, a faint tinge of worry coming into her voice.

            Shawn pried at the arms that had locked around his neck.  "C'mon man, we've _landed_.  You know, Terra Firma?  The stuff that shakes when Lance gets pissed?"  Toad's response sounded suspiciously like "mimble wimble".  The draconic figure attempted to remove his passenger once more; no good.  Shawn shot a pleading look at the Scarlet Witch, who had collapsed in a fit of laughter.  She finally shook off the last of her mirth and used her powers to lever the petrified Todd off of a very grateful lizard's back.

            Shawn then dragged the guy into the house, dropped him onto the sofa, and went into the kitchen.  Wanda just looked on.  As soon as the sound of running water reached her ears, she walked forward, a look of actual concern on her face.  She stopped and looked down at Todd.  He was still out cold.  A small smile crossed her face.  'He looks kind of sweet when he's asleep.  If he bathed more and stopped calling me those ridiculous names, I _might_ be able to like him a little.'  She heard the water being turned off, the pipes rattling in protest.  She quickly returned to her previous spot, adopting a look of boredom.

            Shawn strolled out of the kitchen, having found a relatively clean glass in the toxic waste dump that the Brotherhood called a kitchen.  He rubbed one of his sore shoulders with his free hand, rotating it.  'If I want to be able to carry a passenger, I'm going to have to work out more.'  Thinking of taking Maria on a little 'midnight flight'?  Shut up, I'm still not talking to you  Is it my fault that Scott can't take a joke?  Besides, _you're the one who actually put the food coloring in the toothpaste.  __I just suggested it Still makes you guilty by association Damn lawyer jargon.  I thought you stopped reading Grisham novels And you stopped being a pain in the- I'll ignore that_

            Shawn walked up to the couch, and casually dumped the glass of cold water over the other boy's head.  Todd came up spluttering.  "Who; what; when; were; why; how?  How'd I get back to the house?"  He looked around in confusion.  He spotted Wanda.  "Maybe I died and went to heaven."  Then he wrinkled his nose as a certain, shall we say fragrance, made itself known. "Guess not, unless the septic tank under the pearly gates is backed up."

            Shawn turned to leave, tossing this phrase over his shoulder as he went.  "I'll come back later.  I need to talk to Lance, and I wanna find out what you were fighting those goons about.  But in the meantime; I gotta see a couple of girls about a wallet."

---To be continued---

For all you Toad haters out there, if you don't like it tough cookies.  I kinda feel sorry for the guy, so I'm gonna probably end up hooking him and Wanda up.  *Toad's jumping for joy in the background while Wanda fires up a nice sized hex bolt to send cross my hiney.*  _After_ I make a couple of suggestions to the Toad man.  Like it?  Hate it?  Either way, Review it!


	7. Explanations & Arrangements

Take the Long Way Home

7th chapter!  Wow, I never thought that this fic would ever even get this far!  My sincerest thanks to all of you who chose to review.  If not for you guys, I probably would have given up after the third chapter.  So a heartfelt thanks to any and all reviewers.  And special thanks to Legendary Warrior; Caliente; D-Ark of Spirit; Animeluvr1 and Flame for your suggestions and comments.  Thanks again guys!

            Also I've made the decision to insert an extra year until the 3rd door is opened and Apocalypse is released.  I'm gonna see what I can squeeze out in the way of chapters before I bring in the ancient evil dude.

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Disclaimer: let's see how my new anti-lawyer spray works. I _do own X-men evolution. *a dust cloud formed by a horde of charging lawyers forms in the distance* Apparently it doesn't.  I take it back; I __don't own X-men evolution. *the dust cloud dies down as the lawyers turn and dejectedly return to their dank and slimy lairs*  I'm gonna kill that salesman._

Chapter 7-Explanations and Arrangements

---The Brotherhood Boarding house---

            Shawn strolled up to the door and knocked, humming a happy tune in his head.  He had caught up with the girls outside the mall and had immediately demanded his wallet back.  It had taken several threats and a few of his patented death glares, but he had gotten it back without getting blown up and/or castrated.  He had promised not to tell the professor, so long as they paid him back in full.  As soon as they were out of sight he had checked the pocket worked into the lining of the wallet and had been relieved to find the four fifties he had put in there when he had left the dojo still intact.  Now he was back at the boarding house to find out the story behind his little tussle in the alley earlier.

            His musings were interrupted by an annoyed voice in his head.  You do know how annoying that humming is, don't you?  Of course, I do it solely to annoy you  I hate you sometimes kid  Oh, bite me already  Would if I could, but that would give me one **_huge_** headache  We share pain?  No; it would be from listening to you whine about how _your_ head hurt  Ha-ha, very funny  I know

            Lance opened the door to a chuckling Shawn.  "Hey man; what brings you to the pits?"  He opened the door wider and motioned the other boy inside.

            "Trying to get that poker game together; I found a third player.  Plus I wanted to find out what the heck those goons did that had Todd attempting to fight them."  Lance led him into the living room as he spoke, where Todd sat, the TV remote in one hand.  Several nasty looking bruises were evident on his face and arms, not to mention the split lip and impressive black eye.

            "He won't say what happened, just mumbles something about defending someone's honor, and then goes back to flipping channels and staring at the screen."  Lance gave his friend a worried look before turning back to Shawn.  "When I got back, he was asleep.  I actually thought that Wanda was watching him for a second, but I think I was just seeing things.  She hasn't hurt him all afternoon though, so I guess she feels kinda sorry for him."

            "You guys know that I can hear ya, right?"  The two turned to look at Todd, who was flipping through channels, wincing every time he hit the button.  Shawn motioned for Lance to let him do the talking before settling on the arm of the couch.

            "Soooo, why exactly did you decide to take on twenty five guys; half of whom were drunk, and the other half who would have gladly mounted your head on a wall?  You don't look like the type of guy with a death wish."  Shawn paused for a moment.  "Unless you count that incident with you walking in on Wanda."

            Toad flushed a deep red as he shouted, "I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!!"  He took a deep breath and continued, "I needed to go, and the shower was turned off.  So I went in.  She wasn't undressed or anything.  She was just getting ready to take a shower.  Okay?"

            "So what was the purpose behind the fight today?"

            "I was on my way to the mall to check out the new game shop they got.  I was going over the rooftops and passed by the alley.  I heard one of Duncan's goons laughing about something and stopped to listen.  Turns out they were debating which mutant girls they thought were hot enough too… well, ya know."

            "Please say they mentioned Kitty.  It would give me a good excuse to kill Duncan."  The house shook a little as Lance contemplated what he would do to the arrogant jock.

            "Easy man," Shawn placed a hand on Lance's shoulder in an attempt to calm him. "I gave 'em a beating they'll remember for a _looong_ time, so I already got them back for ya."

            Todd cleared his throat; then continued once the other two turned back to him.  "Any way; I was gonna leave when I heard 'The Tank' say something along the lines of, 'What about the Scarlet Bitch?'  I totally lost it.  I tried to jump the dude, but I missed and hit Duncan instead.  Needless to say, he was less than happy.  The rest is history."

            "Did you even stop to think that maybe, just _maybe_, it was a bad idea to jump one guy in the middle of twenty of his friends?  Man you must really care for Wanda if just one comment about her was enough to get you to attack someone."

            Todd sat up and looked around, making sure Fred, Pietro and Wanda were all gone.  They were nowhere in sight.  His voice was serious as he spoke.  "I'd die for her man.  I feel for her what I'm pretty sure you feel for Kitty, Lance."  There was no trace of hesitation, or the usual sardonic tone in his voice as he said it.

            Further conversation was cut off as a white headed wind made its presence known.  Dashing around the room, Pietro came to a stop in front of the TV, arms crossed over his chest.  "What happened, get your tongue caught in a bug zapper?" the speed demon mocked.

            "Hello Twiggy."  Pietro's head snapped around to lock gazes with Shawn.  A sneer of contempt twisted his features, making his face look almost mask-like.

            "What do _you want, X-man?"  The venom in his voice could have made a cobra proud.  "Come back to let me humiliate you again?"_

            Shawn raised his hands in the universal time out gesture.  "Hold on; you humiliated me?  I think you cracked your head against that tree a little harder than I thought. Besides, I didn't really want to… oh wait, yes I did.  Never mind."  Lance and Todd both sniggered as Pietro's face turned a strange reddish-purplish color.  "If you want another taste of the Zanzoken, I'll be happy to oblige."

            Toad and Lance both looked puzzled at this last part of the statement. (A/N: Todd does the puzzled look very well, doesn't he?)  "Dude, zanzo-wha?" Todd asked. "I thought it was called the afterimage technique." Lance added.

            "Zanzoken, that's the traditional name of the ninjitsu technique I used against Twiggy.  But it translates out to 'Afterimage technique', so I just call it that instead."

             Todd and Lance's response?  A short, foolish sounding, "Oh"

            Pietro fisted his hands at his side, his temper rising to near dangerous levels, as the other three ignored him.  'I'll show this big-shot just who he's messing with; then I'll remind those other two that I'm still in charge.'

            Todd noticed his "leader's" rising anger and decided that, while entertaining, a fight in the middle of the room might end up in him getting hurt more than he already was.  So, he played on Pietro's one fear.  "Is that my babycakes comin up the walk, yo? She looks a little pissed."

            Pietro was gone at a speed that made his earlier entrance look like a slow jog.

            "Whoa." Was the only thing that Shawn could say. 'He must be terrified of Wanda,' he thought.  Shawn looked at the settling dust trail for a moment.  "Cool!" He exclaimed, giving Todd a look of gratitude.  Then his expression turned thoughtful for a moment.  "Yo, Toad?  Do you call Wanda stuff like that when she's around?  I mean, a friend of mine back home tried the same thing with this cheerleader he was trying to impress, and all she did was get royally pissed off.  Between that and your; um, fragrance, I can see why she doesn't really like you that much."

            "So you're saying give up the baby talk and start bathing regularly?  That's all it takes to land a chick!?!"  Todd sounded like Christmas had come early.

            "Um, that and keep from making an idiot of yourself and embarrassing them while you do it I guess.  I was never a really big ladies man; I left that to the jocks and concentrated on keeping the bully population down to a minimum."

            Todd heaved himself off of the couch and limped off.

            "Where are you going man?" Lance asked him.

            The response almost caused him to faint from shock.  "To get a shower, it's been three days since my last one.  Besides, I need to soak my muscles; they're starting to stiffen up."

            As soon as Lance recovered, he looked at Shawn with something between laughter and awe in his eyes.  "You sure that your power isn't mind control?  The rest of us have been dropping hints for months, but he never took them."

            Shawn shrugged, "Did anyone ever tell him to his face?  Sometimes the direct approach works the best.  Not to change the subject or anything; but how come you and Kitty aren't joined at the hip?  You both seem to like each other as much as Todd likes Wanda. In other words; a lot."  That was the understatement of the millennium chuckled Shawn's mental part time pain-in-the-butt.  Trying to help friend's love lives here, we'll trade insults and heckling later, k?  Ok, I'll insult you when you're staring at Maria's butt; again. Its fun watching you try to come up with snappy retorts while all the blood is draining from your head and headed south No comment Current score: Shawn: 0 Bahumut: 1 You have a name!?!? Yeah, guess I forgot to tell you that when I first started yappin at ya; sorry

            Shawn filed this little piece of info in the back of his mind, and looked at Lance.  The other boy's expression was miserable.  "Um… I'm thinking that that was a _bad_ thing to say.  Sorry, man I didn't know that you guys weren't hooked up officially."  Shawn paused for a moment before adding in a slightly less guilty sounding voice, "I mean you each talk about the other all of the time; so I figured… well, ya know."  Lance just sighed as he flopped down onto the couch.

            'Better change the subject,' Shawn thought.  He ignored the cuttingly sarcastic Ya _think from Bahumut.  "So where do you think we should get together for the poker game?"  Lance shook off his sudden fit of melancholia, and settled into thought._

            After a few minutes of deep thought, he spoke.  "Well…there's an old shack down by the old coal refinery.  It's still got power and the structure is still sound.  No heat, though there _is a table and some old chairs last I saw."_

            "Ding-ding-ding! We have a winnah!  Now we just need to decide when to get together.  Any specific days that you got free?"

            Lance shook his head.  "Since the entire Hood got expelled, my days have been free."

            Shawn nodded. "I could sneak off on Thursdays.  That's when I take a ten mile run.  I usually lounge around and take it slow, so I take about three hours.  If I went as fast as possible, I could probably get it done in an hour.  That leaves two hours to play cards.  I think we may just be able to pull this off!"

            After another half hour of talking it over, they had ironed out any possible wrinkles in the plan that they could see.  Shawn left, saying that he was going to inform their third player of where and when they were going to play.  Lance left not ten minutes later, going to look for a make-up present for Kitty, like he had done since the argument in the parking lot.  He was determined to get her back, even if he had to publicly humiliate himself in order to do it.

            Wanda walked into the house, a bored look on her face.  She had gone out, just to walk and relieve her boredom, but had just gotten even more bored.  As she walked in, she heard the pipes rattle in protest at being shut off.  She had thought that she was the only one here.  There had been no sing of any of the other Brotherhood members when she had arrived.  "Fred, that you?" she called.  'There's no way it could be Pietro, he would have been done and out by now.  And there's no way in hell that _Toad_ would be taking a shower."

            She chuckled to herself as she made her way to her room.  As she passed the bathroom door, she was nearly bowled over by Todd as he leapt out of the room.  She nearly landed on her butt, but he managed to snag one of her arms.  Proving that he wasn't as weak as his spindly frame suggested, he held her steady instead of getting dragged down on top of her, which would have led to him being eviscerated.

            "Sorry, bout that babyca…I mean Wanda," Toad scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.  Wanda just stared at him in surprise. 'That _can't be __Toad,' she thought.  It certainly didn't look like him.  His skin still had the ever present greenish cast, but it was far lighter now, barely visible.  His hair was no longer a greasy mess, but curled ever so slightly at the bangs.  All in all, she found him almost…handsome.  'What am I __thinking!!!?  This is __Toad, the guy who snags bugs out of the air!'_

            Toad's voice startled her from her thoughts.  "Hey," he said, waving one hand in front of her face.  "Wha?" she jerked, once she realized that he still had his other hand gently clamped around her arm.  "I asked if you were alright?" he paused for a moment, "Are you?"

            Wanda was still a little bemused, so it took her a moment to grasp the question.  "Huh, oh, yes, I'm fine."  She looked at him for a moment, then asked "Why did you get a shower?  I thought you had your monthly shower three days ago."

            Todd shrugged nonchalantly.  "I felt dirty.  Besides," he added, "I needed to soak so I didn't get anymore sore than I already was."  Wanda just nodded, then continued to her room.  Before closing the door, she turned around and gave him a small smile.  "I like the new look," she said, and then closed the door.  Todd waited until he got to his room, then began a silent victory dance.  'I guess scrubbing off all those layers of dirt and algae was worth it' he thought with something between a grin and a grimace as he rubbed his arms, sore from nearly a half hour straight of scrubbing in the shower.

-Later that night-

            Shawn tossed and turned, but couldn't get to sleep.  He had finally tracked down Gambit after nearly two hours of searching.  It had been a lucky hunch that had him looking near Rouge's usual hangout, a small bookstore.  He had found the card player on the roof opposite the store, so intent on the Goth that was picking out books below, that he swung out with his staff when Shawn tapped him on the shoulder.  There had been a loud "CLANK" as the staff met one of Shawn's nun-chucks.  The Cajun had apologized, saying 'Remy's mind was elsewhere, _mon'ami.'_

            Shawn had waved away his apology and immediately started explaining the plan to the slightly older man.  Gambit hadn't found any reason that he couldn't come, and had broached the subject of a possible fourth player for the game.  Shawn's response?  "As long as he's not a snitch or psychotic he's welcome to the game."  After the little rendezvous had been set up, Shawn had returned to the Institute, too tired to bother with the arcade he had planned on visiting before the day's events had sidetracked him.  After a short nap and dinner, he had retired for the night.

            Unfortunately, his roommates snores, coupled with his own restless mind, were keeping him awake.  He tossed for a few more minutes, then sat up, got out of bed, and padded over to his instruments.  'Should I or shouldn't I?'  Just do it already, that way we can both get some sleep Bahumut tiredly growled.  Shawn didn't reply, but picked up the worn old reed flute and stepped out onto the room's balcony.  The nights had become nice enough that you could leave the doors open if you so wished, plus Shawn had been trained too always have at least one other exit open, just incase he needed it.

            He turned and scanned the walls of the Institute.  There! a ledge stuck out far enough to provide a spot to stand, albeit pressed up against the wall, and there was another within leaping distance of the roof.  Bahumut spoke up just as Shawn gathered himself to make the first leap.  Wouldn't it be less likely to break your neck if we, oh I don't know, _flew_?!?!  Shawn mentally smacked himself, then concentrated, letting both wings and tail form, then taking off towards the roof.  Once he landed, he reabsorbed the appendages into his body and sat cross legged near the roof's edge.  He began to play, letting the soft sweet melody calm his mind and drifted away on the notes.

            Maria watched and listened from the other end of the roof.  Intrigued by the melody, she followed the sound to the source.  On seeing who was playing, she shook her head in resignation.  'I should have figured,' she thought.  As the melody finished, Shawn stood up, and stretched, much like the time after he had finished playing his harmonica back at he cliff.  She still couldn't figure what had possessed her to drag his carcass across nearly fifteen miles of rough terrain to the Institute.  She had just felt that she absolutely _had_ to help this strange crimson eyed boy.

            Shawn turned around, and nearly ran straight into Maria.  If he hadn't put on the brakes as fast as possible, they probably would have landed in a tangle.  He blushed at the image that Bahumut happily provided.  Stop that!  The other presence in his mind just chuckled.  'Wow she's good' was his second thought.

            They both stood there for a moment, neither breaking the uncomfortable silence.  After a minute, Maria broke the tension with a question.  "Why are you up here?"  The question unintentionally came out more like a demand.

            Shawn just shrugged off the harsh sound of the question and answered in a normal voice.  "Couldn't sleep."  The look she gave told him to elaborate.  "Whenever I couldn't sleep, I'd climb to the roof of the dojo and play either my harmonica or my flute.  Since I might have woken people with my harmonica, I opted for the flute."  He was silent for a moment, then looked at her.  "Okay, your turn to tell me what _you're_ doing up here."  She blushed and mumbled something that sounded like "stargazing".  He nodded and plunked down on the edge of the roof.  She stood for a moment before sitting down about a foot away from him.

            "I heard there was supposed to be a meteor shower around midnight from Dr. McCoy.  We should have front row seats for it," Shawn leaned back and watched the dark night sky.  Since there was no moon, the first streaks were easily visible.  Both teens were captivated by the flashes of light, pointing out the really impressive ones to each other.  Unconsciously, they moved closer together until less than three inches separated them.  As the last light faded, Shawn turned to say something along the lines of 'wow that was really cool', but found that if he moved his head down not an three inches, he and Maria would have been caught in a kiss.  Maria was looking back at him, big brown eyes wide with surprise.  'Her eyes look like you could fall right into them,' Shawn thought dazedly, before snapping back to reality.

            He scrambled to his feet, stammering and stuttering.  With a hurried "See you later," he took flight, leaving a bewildered Maria looking at the spot where he had disappeared from view.

            Back in his room, Shawn shook his head while Bahumut ragged him about the rooftop encounter.  You should have kissed her he insisted.  What if she hadn't wanted to be kissed?  She would have killed me; then Claws* would have dug me up and killed me again!  So he's a little overprotective, so what?  I still say you should have kissed her.  If anything you would have died a happy man  Shut up! Shawn mentally yelled.  Bahumut's mental reply held the air of the mortally offended.  Fine, consider the subject closed  With that, he withdrew to his corner of their shared mind.

            Shawn pulled the covers over himself and drifted off to sleep.  And he dreamed of big brown eyes and kissable lips.

-Magneto's Base-

            "I would like to welcome you to the Acolytes Mr. Krupner," Magneto addressed a figure in a voluminous black hooded cloak that hid all of his features.  The figure was five' eight" tall, and clutched a staff that looked like it had been carved from ebony in one, almost skeletal, hand.  The figure waited until Magneto had finished speaking, then nodded and spoke.  The voice sounded like an icicle feels; cold, sharp and hard.

            "I thank you for this opportunity, but I would prefer to be called…" as he spoke, a silver glow traveled from his hand to the staff, and formed a wicked looking curved blade at the top, making the staff into a scythe.  "Thanatos," he finished, as the glow from the blade lit up enough of his face to see his eyes.  They were a hard, flashing green, with the faintest beginning of a scar just barely visible under his right eye.

There's the end of the 7th chapter.  Next chapter: The Poker Game!  How will Lance react when he finds out that the other two players are Colossus and Gambit?  And just _who_ exactly is this 'Thanatos'?  Find out next time, and as always; Read & Review!

Quiz time!!!-Two questions.

#1- What does the word Thanatos signify?

#2- Who is 'Claws'?

Correct answers earn a gold star and a free ride on my muse.


	8. The Game is on!

Take the Long Way Home

            Here it comes folks!  The Poker Game!!!  Points to silver, Flame32, and marie lebeau.  Since you three were the first to answer, you all get a gold star and a ride on my muse, Draco!  *Jerks a thumb at a very pissed looking silver dragon*.           Unfortunately…there's only room for one person to ride on his back, and I could only get him too agree to one ride. (Hey, I'm an author, not a UN negotiator!)  So one of you will ride on his head, one on his back, and…one will hang onto his tail for dear life.  You may now commence the scramble for the safe spots to ride.

P.S. I don't really know that much about poker, so I'll probably get a few things wrong in this chapter.  So tell me if anything's wrong and I'll try and fix it.

P.P.S. marie, I talk to myself too.  It's the only way I can get any type of intelligent conversation at home.  Just remember, talking to yourself doesn't mean you're crazy, _answering_ yourself means you're crazy! ^_^

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Disclaimer-Buttered Toast!

Chapter 8-The Game is on!

            "Let's see… poker chips? Check.  Potato chips?  Check.  Mass quantities of orange Slice and Mt. Dew?  Check.  Plastic cups?  Check.  Portable radio and CD's?  Check.  Said items hidden in a duffel bag off of Institute grounds, ready for pickup?  Checkmate."  Shawn mused to himself as he went over his mental checklist for tonight's game.  Three days had passed without incident, both Shawn and Maria agreeing by silent consent not to mention the rooftop encounter to anyone, as long as you disregarded the little, teeny, _tiny incident involving a garden hose being turned onto Scott and Jean when they were 'talking'.  'Man, Scott has some _killer_ aim.  If Jean hadn't been so mad that she couldn't really concentrate, I would have been in _real_ trouble.'  As it was, it had taken a few of his more advanced techniques and about half an hour to lose them.  "I would have lost them sooner if a certain mental companion who shall remain nameless hadn't kept __giving my position away to Jean."  Shawn grumbled. Heh, just a little payback for yelling at me Bahumut chuckled.  I wasn't even the one who _did_ it!  It was Bobby! I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! Shawn lamented, before returning to his planning._

            Shawn had already gotten permission for his "run" from Logan after he had explained it was part of his training regimen.  The instructor fell for it; hook, line, and sinker.  Apparently he was a sucker for anything if he thought you were really trying to improve your fighting abilities.  Now the hard part was to make sure that he made it back to the Institute before they sent out a search party.  Other than that, the evening looked like it would be problem free.  Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

            So, why did he have the feeling he should take his Bo with him?

            It was about six thirty, and he had told the others to meet at the shack at seven.  "Better get my tail in gear," he thought, with more than a little irony.  He had been doing that a lot lately.  He slipped out of his room, and headed towards the front door, going by way of the girls wing.  As he passed Maria and Co.'s room, he overheard Kitty talking to some of the other girls.  Being the nosy guy he was, he stopped for a moment to see what was up.

            "I, like, miss him so much, y'know?"  'Ahhh, complaining about breaking up with Lance.  Again.'  Shawn settled himself where he wouldn't be immediately spotted by anyone either coming or going down the hall, but could still hear the conversation.  'Maybe I'll find something out that can help Lance get her back.'  One of Shawn's more redeeming qualities was the fact that, once he considered someone a friend, he would hack his right arm off for them.

            "So why don't you apologize and get back with him?"  This was Amara.  'Her royal hineyness' when she got bratty.  However, he had learned not to call her it to her face, as he was only _partially fireproof._

            "Yeah, I'm sure if he really loves you, he'd take you back no matter what."  This was Jubilee, or "Jube-jube", as Shawn had affectionately dubbed her.

            "It's, like, not that simple.  Whenever I _really feel like asking him to forgive me, either Jean or Scott talks me out of it."  There was an excited muttering, most of it along the lines of "no __way" and "that __jerk".  As soon as the mutters died, Kitty spoke again.  "I'm sure they, like, think it's for my own good, but I really, __really miss Lance."_

            As the subject turned from just Kitty's boy problems to the problems with men in general that teenage girls seem so prone to discuss, Shawn took his leave, thinking furiously as he went.  'So Scott and Jean think the Lance man ain't good enough for Kitty, huh?  Maybe they should just let those two alone and let them decide for themselves.'  You're going to meddle, aren't you? Bahumut groaned.  Is that a rhetorical question?  Shawn's mental tone was the equivalent of a broad smirk.  Just make sure you know what you're doing.  If you mess up, it may permanently screw them over in the love department.  So think twice before you act, K?  Don't I always?  I won't even _touch that one  Their conversation got absolutely nowhere after that._

            Shawn had arrived about ten minutes before the others, and started setting up for the game.  The table and chairs were all in fairly good condition and the shack itself was nice and cozy.  It was also big enough for most of the male population of the Institute to hide in if Kitty was ever trying to get people to eat her cooking again.  Shawn had nearly tried one of her muffins before Kurt had 'accidentally' knocked it out of his hands and into the floor.  Yeah, that's right, _into_ the floor.  Shawn still got a toothache from thinking about what would have happened if he had bitten into that thing.  He shuddered and continued to stack the betting chips into equal piles.  Outside, he heard a jeep pull up.  "Lance, right on time," he walked over to the door.

            Then there came a double shout of "YOU!!!"  One of the shouters had a distinctly southern accent.  "This does _not_ bode well," Shawn muttered, as a slight tremor rocked the shack.

            He opened the door, and looked out on utter chaos.  Gambit was there, along with what appeared to be a walking suit of armor.  They were trying to keep their feet, while Lance sent tremor after tremor to knock them down.  Gambit had a card in one hand, waiting for a clear shot so he could charge and throw it.  Shawn took this in while calmly leaning against the doorframe.  When none of them noticed him, he decided to take action before this got out of hand.

_            "HOLD IT!!!!!!!!"_

            _That got their attention.  Lance raised his head as the tremors died down; Gambit stopped charging the card in his hand and returned it to a pocket in his duster, and the big metal guy reabsorbed his armor into his skin.  'Must be the fourth player Gambit mentioned.'  Shawn thought as he sauntered up to the former combatants.  "I take it you guys know each other?" he asked in a mild voice as Lance glared daggers at the Cajun._

            "Oui, Gambit know de Avalanche.  We be unnner de same boss.  T'aint that righ _mon__ 'ami?"  Lance just snarled at the Cajun, before turning to face Shawn._

            "Please tell me these aren't the other players?"

            "I don't make a habit of lying to my friends Lance.  Besides, I don't see the problem.  Believe it or not, you both have at least three things in common."  Lance just stared, so the other boy counted them off on his fingers.  "First is your respective situations regarding girls, next is your dislike of this Magneto dude," he ticked the first two off on his, then paused.  "The third thing is the little fact that I consider you both to be friends of mine.  And I don't like to see my friends fighting each other, so I'm officially making the area in a hundred and fifty yard radius a fight-free zone.  And if _anyone starts cracking heads, it's gonna be __me."_

            Lance and Gambit both stared at him as they digested this info.  They both knew, deep down, that he would carry out the threat, or at least try to.  Suddenly he began to smile, his persona doing an abrupt 180.  "I don't think we've been introduced, my large friend."  He stuck a hand out in the direction of the large boy.  "The name's Shawn O'Reily, the self made master of disaster."  The other's hand enveloped his own, and Shawn got the impression of a huge, but carefully controlled, strength.

            A slight smile crossed the larger man's face at the ridiculous title.  "I am Piotr Rasputin.  They also call me the Colossus."  He gestured at the other two, who were glaring daggers at each other.  Gambit was fingering an Ace of spades in his left hand.  "It vill be difficult to play poker if the two of them refuse to speak to each other."

            Shawn sighed.  "Alright you two idiots, I'll tell you what.  I'll give you each two extra hundred dollar chips, _if_ you two agree to play nice."  He glanced at them, "Deal?"

            The two considered it, glanced at each other, considered it a bit more, and nodded.  "Deal," they chorused.  The group went into the shack, closing the door behind them.  "Hey I see snacks and stuff, but where's the cards?" Lance inquired.  Shawn looked to the Cajun.  "Gambit?" he said in an expectant tone.  The thief reached into his duster and produced a sealed pack of Bicycle playing cards.  "Les play some cards," he grinned.

            And so the game began.  Everyone grabbed a drink and some chips, and settled at the table.  The seating from left to right was; Piotr, Lance, Shawn, and Gambit.  Shawn was dealer.  He began to shuffle the cards at a pace that strained even Gambit's keen vision to keep track of them.  After a few moments of shuffling, he began to deal.  "Alrighty boys, the name of the game is straight poker, fours wild."  A slim-jim he was chewing on made it look, and sound, as if he had a cigar in his mouth, and he had produced one of those green dealers' visors from his duffel bag to complete the ensemble.  All in all, he looked almost like Klinger from MASH during one of the camp poker games.

            "Dealer starts the bets at twenty."  Shawn threw a blue chip into the center of the table.  He looked at the others for a moment.  "Hey guys, it okay if I put in some tunes?"  The others nodded their assent, so he leaned back in his chair, and stuck an "Astro Lounge" CD into the player.  After a few seconds, "All Star" was playing fairly loudly, but not loud enough to break the concentration of the other players.  Lance began to nod his head to the music, while Gambit tapped his foot and Piotr drummed his fingers.

            "Remy'll see your tweny an raise you tweny."  He paused for a moment, then looked over to Shawn.  "So how you getting long wit de new femme at de institute?"  There was a knowing glint in his eye as he spoke.

            Shawn nearly sprayed the pop he had been drinking over the table at the question, but managed to swallow, forcing a coughing fit.  Piotr gave him a light slap on the back to help him clear his airway.  "Cough… what… cough… are you …cough… talking …cough … about?" he finally croaked.

            "Remy saw you an de Wolvie femme stargazing las night afore he turned in."

            Lance chuckled.  "And what were you doing there, Rouge-gazing?"

            "Oui," Remy's face was perfectly straight when he replied.  Lance and Shawn both started laughing at this.  Even Piotr cracked a large smile.  The light tension that had been hanging in the room dissolved at this.  Gambit looked back at his cards, and smiled.  "Les jus keep the game going, no?"  The others turned their attentions back to their respective hands.  They continued to place bets and trade banter for about ten minutes before Lance folded.  Five minutes after that, Piotr folded as well.  Gambit made one final bet, then Shawn called.  The thief displayed his cards with a flourish.  "Straight!" he practically crowed.  "Top dat!"

            Shawn's answer was to lay out his own hand and simply say, "Royal Flush".  His hand had the Ace and Jack of diamonds, and three fours.  Remy shook his head.  "Non _mon'ami, dat be tre of a kind, less fours wild."_

            Lance and Piotr both grinned.  "Da, fours vere vild comrade," the Russian rumbled.  Gambit smacked his hand into his forehead as Shawn reeled in the pot, a grin plastered over his face.  "Remy'll get you nex hand, jus you wait," he gave a friendly smile as he said it. (I know, Gambit's a little OOC, but this is as good as I can write it. *Cowers in fear from hoard of glowering purist Remy fans [fans against him being OOC]*  Please, have mercy!)

            They continued on with the game, switching dealers occasionally, while Shawn changed out the CDs whenever they got tired of what was currently playing.  They began to notice little quirks in their opponent's behavior that led to more interesting play, such as the fact that Piotr's pinkie would twitch when he had a bad hand, or when Lance would start humming along to the song when he had a good hand.  Gambit's poker face was nearly perfect, except that he narrowed his eyes _just_ a little when he had a hand he didn't like.  Shawn's poker face was a blank mask, but if he had a really, _really good hand, his pupils tended to turn reptilian.  Naturally, this kinda freaked Lance out a little when he saw them change.  But he dealt with it in a calm, sensible manner._

            "GEEZE! What happened to your eyes?"  Or not.

            Shawn looked up from his Straight Flush, a puzzled look on his face.  "What are you talking...?"  Lance pointed to an old mirror that had survived through the years in the old shack.  Shawn looked, as surprised as Lance to see the shape his eyes had taken, but he shook it off fast.

            "Oh.  Must be another part of my mutation," He glanced around the table, then launched into an explanation.  "My mutation gives me the ability to grow bat-like wings, a lizard-y tail, scales, claws and fangs, and to spit fireballs if I get really mad.  And Beast says that I'm only partially tapping into my powers, so I'm almost afraid to guess what'll happen when I manage to fully tap into my abilities."

            All of the others seemed fairly impressed with his repertoire of powers.  "Remy tinks dat mebbe you become a dragon, no?" Gambit voiced the thought that was in everyone's mind.  The other two nodded, Piotr giving a hearty "Da", to emphasize the point.  Shawn nodded, "Maybe," he said. After that, the game continued, for about an hour before Shawn was distracted.  He gave a yelp as a watch alarm began to sound.

            "OH S**T!! That's my early warning system!  I gotta get back to the Institute, NOW!"  He pushed away from the table, getting his things together.  He looked up from the task as the other three got up and began to file out the door.  "Hey guys!"  They stopped.  "Same time next week?"  Lance gave a thumbs up, but Gambit looked pensive.

            "Remy an Colossus'll have to see what be going on at de base.  If we can, den Remy'll tell you.  If not, den Remy get word to ya."  Shawn looked at him for a moment.

            "Has anyone ever told you that that speaking in third person thing is_ really annoying?"_

            Gambit chuckled.  "Oui, but it make de femme's go wild."  Shawn took off laughing, tossing a "see ya later!" over his shoulder.

            After he hid the duffel bag for future pickup; he trotted up to the front doors of the Institute.  He gulped when he saw Wolverine standing there smoking a cigar.  Shaking slightly, he swallowed the bout of nerves and walked past in a leisurely manner.  Logan just stood there, then after Shawn had passed him, called over his shoulder, "Get some sleep tonight kid, you're getting up at seven an joining the rest of the pups for a Danger Room session."

            Shawn turned, a look of surprise on his face.  "But tomorrow's Friday.  And I thought that I wasn't ready for Danger Room sessions yet."

            Logan flicked some ash from his cigar before answering.  "The school's having some sort of teacher's conference, so the other runts got the day off.  And you've gotten a lot better at controlling your powers."  He gave a malicious grin, "I think that you'll want to get a _lot_ of rest.  You're gonna need it!"

            Shawn continued into the house, looking like he had just been handed a death sentence.  He knew what happened in the DR.  Scott and Kurt had shown him tapes of some of the torture sessions that Wolverine liked to concoct for the students.  Tomorrow was_ not going to be fun._

            He was so preoccupied, that he missed Maria watching him from one of the couches.  She giggled at the look on his face, then stopped in shock.  'Where did _that come from?'  She looked back at Shawn, who had gone into the rec room in search of someone to take his aggravations out on by whipping their butt at some game or another.  'What is it about him that makes me act like that?  When I'm around him, I can act as if H.Y.D.R.A. was just a horrible dream.  Why?'  No one answered her silent question, so she shrugged it off and returned to the book Ray had leant her.  Who knew he had a thing for action fantasy?  She had gotten caught up in the "DemonTech" story line, and couldn't wait to see how the second book ended._

            Up in his office, Xavier sat back and listened as Logan told him some slightly disturbing news.  "I'm telling ya Chuck, I smelt Lance, the Cajun, _and Colossus on 'em.  He met with them for some reason."  His voice turned a little worried.  "Ya think Mystique and Magneto are trying to recruit him?"_

            Xavier smiled and shook his head.  "I sincerely doubt that Mr. O'Reily wishes to leave the Institute.  He has an 'obligation' here."

            "You mean Maria?"

            "Precisely.  I don't believe he would leave her.  He seems to have grown _quite _attached to the young lady."  Logan growled at that.

            "If he tries _anything_ with her, I'll flay him _alive_."

            "Calm down old friend, I was merely making an observation.  He doesn't strike me as the type of boy who would try anything…, shall we say, untoward.  Besides, I believe Maria is more than capable of taking care of herself."

            Logan sighed.  "I know Charles, but I can't help but feel responsible for her.  It's my fault that she went through what she did. Hell, it's even my fault that she even _exists_.  That makes me feel like she's well…"

            "Family?" the professor provided.

            "Yeah, like family."  Logan sighed once more, then returned to the matter at hand.  "So what do we do about this little 'situation'?"

            The professor looked out the window for a moment before replying, "Nothing.  I believe that he may actually be doing us a service, possibly making friends with the three of them.  This means that they may stop attacking the X-men, or at least give us warning of activities that could seriously harm the students.  We already know that Gambit never tells Magneto anything of importance during his 'surveillance missions' and Lance never really wanted to hurt anyone, so I'm inclined to just trust Shawn's sense of judgment and let it slide."  He chuckled for a moment, "Would you believe that the four of them were playing cards?  Mr. O'Reily's thoughts are currently going over a rather ingenious bluff that Lance pulled."

---To be continued---

Well, there's the poker game.  If it wasn't exactly what you were expecting, well that's your problem, not mine.  So, the Professor and Logan know about the game.  How will the students react if they ever find out?  Find out later.  Next time, Shawn may get in over his head during the DR session.  See what happens next, but till then, Read & Review!

*Draco walks in, rubbing a towel over his head, and grumbling*  What happened to you?  "One of those reviewers got airsick!  That silver dude puked all over my HEAD!"


	9. Into The Danger Zone

Take the Long Way Home

            Chapter 9.  Let's see what happens to Shawn when he enters…the DANGER ROOM!  Mwahahahaha!!!  *lightning flashes in the background as weird music plays* CUUTTT!  *I stop and look around.*  Ok, who's the wise guy who set up the stupid effects and changed the scripts?  Was it you Bobby?  "Un-uh; wasn't me."  *Chuckling is heard from behind the X-jet.*  DRACO!!!  "What? That was the least I could do to get you back for that kid _puking_ on me!  As far as I'm concerned, YOU OWE ME!!!"  Time out; let's recap.  I'm the all powerful, god-like author, and you are a, I repeat **_a_**, as in singular, as in only one of many, muse.  I don't see me owing you squat.  Now on with the fic!

P.S. - marie, ummm, yeah…   I'll think about it, but I've got some corny jokes and gags of my own as well.  As for favorite reviewer?  I'll have to get back to you on that.  *Looks nervously at Legendary Warrior, who just happens to have a big sword and two _very_ big pistols trained on me. Animeluvr1, who has whole _hoards of different anime heroes at her beck and call.  And D-Ark of Spirit, who has a huge shadowed form behind him (his digimon partner, I mean his name _is_ D-Ark)*  Can't you __all be my favorite reviewers?  "_NO!!_"  A little help here?!?  "Why don't you call one of your __other muses to help you?" Draco calls sweetly.  I am in __such deep shit._

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Disclaimer-Um, Duh?

Chapter 9- Into the Danger Zone

            Shawn's ideal wake-up call was a beautiful girl with a twenty ounce cup of black coffee kissing him awake.  Needless to say, half a bucket of ice cold water, complete with ice cubes, was _not his ideal version of a wake-up call._

            "Rise and shine Scales."  Logan; of course it would be Logan.  Who else would pour a bucket of freezing water on you at seven in the morning and sound like Christmas had come early?  Immediately, Bobby leapt to mind.  "C'mon Scales, you need to be suited up and in the DR by seven thirty.  After the session, you'll find out how you rank up against the other, more experienced X-men and the other team, the New Mutants.  Now move!"  Logan stalked out, whistling, probably going to wake up some other unfortunate individual.

            Shawn changed out of his soaked boxers, (Ladies let the drooling commence) glaring at his laughing roommate the whole time.  "Next time, give a guy a little warning why don't ya?!"

            "Ah'm sorry, but Logan said ta keep quite.  Now c'mon, we got enough time for breakfast b'fore the session.  Save the showers and all that fer afterwards when ya stink like a pig in a waller.  Get yer gear together an let's go."  Sam walked out of the room, leaving Shawn to get into his normal morning attire, a t-shirt and shorts, grab his Bo and walkman, plus a CD in a red case, and head downstairs.  This should prove to be an interesting morning Bahumut yawned.  You can say that again This should prove- Shaddap Note to self, do not antagonize Shawn before his coffee Damn straight

            He wandered into the kitchen, heading to the coffee pot, as usual.  He picked it up and tipped the spout.  It took him a couple of seconds to realize that no one had put coffee grounds into the machine yet, and instead of the caffeine rich drink of the gods, he was pouring boiling hot water down his throat.  At that point, the pot was halfway empty, so he just shrugged and poured the rest down.  He put the pot back, wiped his mouth off and calmly set about fixing a bowl of cereal, pointedly ignoring the stares Sam, Bobby and Kitty were giving him.  Rouge was there as well, but she just ignored him and ate her breakfast in silence.

            "Didn't you like, notice that the coffee pot had water in it?" Kitty asked.  Shawn growled in reply.

            "Ummm, Kitty?  I think he's the type of guy that gets mean if he doesn't get his coffee in the morning," Bobby hazarded.  He turned and looked at the subject in question, "Right?"  Shawn gave a conformational grunt, then returned to his Cheerios™.  

            After a few minutes, he finished his bowl and headed to the locker room with Bobby and Sam.  He admired his battle suit for a moment before putting it on.  The design was simple, a black body suit made of some sort of nano-fiber material, it allowed his wings and tail to sprout and be reabsorbed without actually tearing the cloth (it's the same stuff they made Spyke's costume out of).  It had a belt with the X logo on the buckle, and two loops on either side of the belt to put his nun-chucks into.  He had specifically asked that the shoulder guards be removed from the suit and that he could use a different pair of shoes instead of those glaringly bright boots.  It was basically a New Mutant uniform that he had customized.  He still couldn't believe that he and Logan were the only men at the Institute that knew how to sew.  There was also a sheath across the shoulders where he could store his weapon when it was in staff form.  Aside from that, there was also a small compartment for his CD player on the belt.

            He and Wolverine had nearly come to blows when he refused to part with it in battle.  When he had explained that it was part of his fighting technique, the instructor had pointed out that it would distract his teammates.  Shawn had replied that he kept the volume low so he could hear what was going on around him.  Wolverine had dropped that line of attack, switching to puzzlement over the fact that he seemed to need the device so badly in a fight.  Shawn had countered by pointing out that he had beaten Maria in a fight when he hadn't had it. "It's a part of the fighting style I was trained in," he had said.  "Not only does it help me focus on the fighting, and give me a more flexible style of fighting, it usually distracts my opponents."  The argument had ended with Shawn being allowed to keep the CD player.  He had however, managed to get on Logan's bad side.

            Shawn slipped into the suit, grateful that it wasn't as flashy as Scott or Jean's combat gear.  Never the less, he still felt that he could have fought better in his gi.  He tugged at the collar.  "Do these things have to be so tight?" he looked over at Sam.  Sam just shrugged and headed to the Briefing room.  Shawn sighed and followed.  When he got to the room, he stopped in shock, and nearly swallowed his tongue.  Maria was in an outfit similar to the one he was in excepting that it didn't have the CD case, or the places to store a weapon.  It fit her form perfectly, hugging every curve and showing off her toned body (I can't believe this, I'm getting jealous of a character **_I_** created.) in detail.  All in all, he had to take several swallows to get rid of the sudden excess of drool.

            "Alright rugrats, listen up!" Wolverine barked as he walked in.  "Today's session is simple.  This is gonna be an extreme obstacle course, you against everything that me an the DR can throw at you.  Oh, and Jamie," he looked at the boy in question, who gulped audibly.  "You're gonna help me put these guys through their paces."  The New Mutants all paled at this.  "YESSSSSS!" Jamie whooped, streaking past Logan.

            "Have fun," the feral X-man tossed over his shoulder as he left.

            "Bum bum ba-bum bum ba-bum ba-bum ba-bum," Shawn hummed.  Everyone else, excepting Maria gulped

            "C'mon, how bad could it be?" Shawn shrugged.

            "Are you _INSANE?!?!" Bobby shrieked._

Shawn ignored him, he was busy taking out a small black device and fixing it into one of his ears.

            "Like, what's that?" Kitty asked.

            "Cordless headphones; very useful in a tournament fight.  No cord for the opponent to grab onto."  He finished fixing the device into his ear, and took out the red CD that he had snagged from his dresser earlier.  He put the CD into the player and snapped the device back into place, then looked around.  "Coming?" he said as he walked out the door.  The others looked at each other for a moment, then watched Maria jog out.  "Well, better get this over with," Ray sighed.  The rest of them filed into the DR.

            Logan's voice crackled over the speaker.  "Hold onto your butt's!" he cackled.  That was all the warning they got.

            The DR hummed to life, as several walls opened up.  Some spat out spider-like robots that were equipped with a variety of weapons ranging from buzz-saws and lasers, to tasers and long metal tentacles.  Others revealed lasers and larger versions of the tentacles that the bots had.  A few of the panels on the walls and floor stood up, independent of the walls, obviously meant to crush anything that got between them.  Near the center of the room, a pedestal with a button on it appeared.  Logan's voice crackled over the intercom. "You have fifty minutes for all of you get to the button, starting…NOW!"

            Shawn jumped right into the thick of things, ducking and dodging laser bursts and saws, whacking away with a version of his Bo that the others hadn't seen before.  He had separated the staff into two equal rods about three feet long, and was using them in the manner of swords, attacking with one while he used the other to block counter attacks.  He had a maniacal look in his eye and a 'Christmas had come early' grin plastered across his face.

            "C'mon guys, lets get in there!" Cyclops cried, blasting away at the hazards.  Jean went airborne, using her powers to crunch the bots together.  Cannonball was cannon-balling around wildly, barely touching ground before he was off again.  Iceman, Sunspot, and Magma powered up, respectively freezing and melting targets while they advanced.  Jubilee and Boom-Boom had teamed up, with Jubilee confusing the bots sensors while Boom-boom pitched time bombs at them.  Wildcat was a veritable whirlwind of claws, scrapping any hazard that came in reach.  Nightcrawler was dodging around, attempting to get the bots and other hazards to kill each other for him.  Berserker was zapping anything that looked metallic.  Kitty merely phased through each hazard.

            Rouge was having the hardest time out of them all.  She couldn't absorb the bots powers to put them down, so she had to rely on old fashioned punches and kicks to keep in the game. She was dispatching one of the robots, when a tentacle shot out of the ground almost right under her feet!  She tried to dodge, but it came at her to fast.  The next thing she knew, it had been turned into sushi by Maria.  "Thanks Wildcat," she gasped.  The other girl just shrugged and continued into the melee.

            On the other side of the room, Shawn was hard pressed top keep the three different machines that had locked onto him at bay.  "YO, CYCLOPS!  A LITTLE COVER FIRE HERE!?"  Scott shot away two of the offending tentacles, allowing Shawn to dispatch the saw that had been menacing him.  Shawn put the two seconds of free space that he had just gotten to work, growing tail, wings and claws.  He punched the play button on his CD player as he leapt into the air, with a whooping yell of "IT'S PARTY TIME!!"  Most of the team gave him a look, those that weren't preoccupied with their own 'problems'.

            He began to strafe the different obstacles with fireballs, performing a series of dives, loops and barrel-rolls to avoid the laser fire.  He spotted a mass of bots converging on Kitty and moved in, opening his mouth wide as he readied his Bo.

            Kitty looked up in surprise when Shawn bashed several of the robots 'heads' in, taking out three in one pass.  But that wasn't what surprised her the most.  No it was the fact that the big tough flying ninja was singing to himself in a low alto voice as he fought.

"_Becky was a beauty from __South Alabama__/_

_Her daddy had a heart like a nine pound hammer/_

_I think he even did a little time in the slammer;_

_ what was I thinking?"_

_"She snuck out one night; I met her by the front gate/_

_ Her daddy came out a waving that twelve gauge/_

_ we tore out the drive; he peppered my tailgate;_

_ what was I thinking?_" he sang while he landed and began to bash the bots in time to the fast paced song.

            Then he began to spit fireballs again, blowing chunks of armor off and exposing wires and circuits.  Each fireball was about the size of a softball and did about as much damage as a grenade.  After giving Kitty some clearance, he took to the air again, leaving a stunned Shadowcat standing in the wreckage of seven different robots.

            He was enjoying himself immensely; blowing stuff up makes any guy happy, be he ten or seventy, and he was no exception.  This is better than the arcade! Well, it seems that you've gotten over your coffee depravation. Well blowing sh*t up is _fun No arguments here kid.  OOOOHH look at dem circuits fry!_

            Up in the control room, Logan, Hank and Xavier watched the monitors while Jamie operated the controls.  "Send in about five more taser droids from the east wall," he ordered.  Jamie saluted, then punched several buttons.  Logan turned back to the screens. Commenting to Xavier, "The new kids good at ground combat, I'll give him that.  But how good are his aerial combat skills?"  He turned back to Jamie once more.  "Kid," he grinned, "Send in some aerial attack bots.  You know; the ones with the lasers.  Targets are Scales and Red."

            "Don't you think that that's a bit extreme Logan?" Beast asked.  "I mean, even Jean had quite a bit of trouble with those things, and she's used to this sort of thing."

            "What do you say Chuck?"

            "We need to find out how well Mr. O'Reily can adapt to different situations Hank."  The professor steepled his fingers, "Go ahead Jamie."

            Back down in the DR, most of the team had gotten to the pedestal.  The only ones not there yet were Draco,Rouge , Jean, Iceman and Cannonball.  "C'mon Jean let's get this done with!" Scott shouted as he blasted another tentacle away from the group.  At that moment, a hatch far up on the far wall opened.  The robots that exited it were along the lines of small jets, each one armed with a single laser mounted on the nose of the craft.  With a whine remarkably like that of a full sized jet, the ten robots split off into two squadron formations of five.  Each squad veered off after a different target.

            Jean was the first to notice the new arrivals, quickly raising a shield to ward off the laser blasts.  "Scott, I need some help!" she cried as the mini-jets began to strafe her repeatedly.

            "I'm on it!" he cried, blasting away at the little bots.  Berserker and Magma took over the defense of their position, with Boom-Boom, and Iceman, who had just arrived at the endpoint, providing backup.  Between Cyclops' optic blasts and Jean's telekinetic abilities, they were able to disable the squadron of mini-fighters.

            Around the same time, Draco was assisting Rouge with the last few obstacles in her path.  "Get going!" he yelled, as the bots converged on him.  Rouge nodded in thanks before running the rest of the way to the endpoint.  Shawn made to follow her, when his ears picked up the whine of engines.  Incoming two o-clock high! Bahumut mentally shouted.  'Lets dance', Shawn thought punching the skip button on his CD player.  It landed on number six.  'Sharp Dressed Man oughtta do the trick,' he thought.

            He launched himself into the air as the song began blasting in his ear.  Pouring on the speed, he began to fire wildly, performing barrel-rolls and double-backs to make himself into a harder target to hit.  He used every trick he'd seen in video games; using the other obstacles to destroy the planes, even managing to get two of them to crash into each other!  After about a minute and a half, he only had one plane left on his tail, and there was only about a minute left on the clock.

            As he passed over the endpoint, he went into a sudden dive, then turned it into a double-back, so that he was headed straight for the plane!  As he shifted to avoid the laser fire, he opened his mouth and spat a fireball straight at the plane!  It exploded into a cloud of debris; which billowed a moment before Cannonball flew through it!  Apparently, he had been attempting to catch the plane and destroy it when Draco had blown it up.  At this point, the two of them were so close that there was no chance at avoiding a collision.

            "OH…" Sam started.

            "SHIIIT!!!" Shawn finished.

            The two of them collided, crashing down onto the podium about a second and a half before the timer ran out.  Coincidentally, they had pushed the button on the podium when they had hit.  As the DR shut down, everyone gathered around the two.  Sam got up first; his powers had prevented him from receiving any real injuries from the crash.  Shawn however, wasn't in such good shape.  Scott was holding him upright, while Bobby was gently slapping his face.

            "C'mon man, say something!" Bobby urged.  Shawn groaned for a moment, then cracked open his eyes.

            "Easy peesy lemon squeezey," he sighed in a dreamy voice.

            Bobby paused a moment, then started slapping his cheeks again, a little harder this time.  "Say something else!"  Shawn jerked, then opened his eyes once more.  They were a little unfocused, but otherwise alert.

            "Which way did he go? Which way did he go?"  Strike that alert part.  Maria chose this time to walk up, and slap Shawn right across the face!  "You IDIOT!" she screeched, before turning and storming to the briefing room.

            "Remind me not to get on her bad side," Roberto whispered to Sam.  All of the boys in earshot nodded in agreement.  The girls however, had a different view of the situation.

            "How much you want to bet that she hooks up with him?" Amara asked Tabby.

            "I got five on her making the first move," she replied.

            "Ten says that he makes the first move," Jubilee chipped in.  The girls huddled up as the betting began.

            After a few more slaps, and an ice cube down the back, Shawn was alert as he was gonna get.   The X-men all gathered in the briefing room to receive their final grades.  Logan walked in with the professor and Hank right behind him.  "Alright, listen up!  Most of you know the drill, but I'll explain this for Shawn and Maria.  You've all been graded on your performance in the DR.  I'll read off the grades, lowest to highest.  Anyone who got lower than a C will take the course again in two hours.  Bobby; C.  You need to work on helping out your teammates better.  Ray, Amara, Kurt, Rouge and Kitty; C+.  You did good, but you still need to work on your approach.  Half of the obstacles you destroyed could've been avoided.  Scott, Jean; B-.  You need to look out for the whole team, not just individuals.  Maria, Tabby, Roberto, and Jubilee; B+.  Good teamwork and looking out for the others.  Sam, Shawn; A-.  Both of you did extremely well, but you need to keep aware of where your allies are at all times.  All in all, good job, all of you.  Since you all did so well, the professor and Beast have decided to give you the rest of the day off."  There was a rousing, if ragged, cheer at the last announcement.

            As everyone went to shower off, Kitty stopped Shawn.  "Hey Shawn?"

            "Yeah?"  He turned and looked at her.

            "What was, like, the deal with the singing?"

            Shawn shrugged one shoulder.  "Eh, it's just something I do sometimes when I get really into a fight."  He gave a toothy grin.  "Annoys the hell outta my opponents though."  He turned and went towards the boy's locker room, intent on grabbing a shower.

            A little while later, he came out of the shower, fresh and relaxed.  Bobby, Scott, Ray and Kurt were still in the locker room, just finishing getting changed.  "Hey Scott, what time is it?" he asked.

            Scott checked his watch.  "About nine, why?"

            Shawn started changing into jeans and a t-shirt as he answered.  "How bout we go get lunch in about a half hour?  My treat."

            Ray shook his head.  "Sorry, but I'll have to pass.  I gotta project due in Social Studies.  At least I know Mr. Hendershot isn't automatically failing me like most of the teachers," he finished bitterly.

            Shawn winced in sympathy.  "Ouch."  He looked around.  "What about the rest of you?"

            "I'm in," Kurt and Bobby chorused.

            Scott shrugged, "Eh, your dime."

            "Fine, I saw this little diner place with outdoor seating and stuff, looked kike the food was pretty good too.  Now that we've agreed on it, lets go around…ah, lets go around eleven, beat the lunchtime crowd."

            Bobby shrugged, "Whatever."

            Shawn finished changing and walked out of the room.  After a second though, he stuck his head back in.  "Oh, by the way, Scott; since I'm buying; you're driving."  Then he walked.

            Scott palmed his face.  "I knew there had to be a catch," he muttered as Bobby and Kurt started laughing their heads off.

            That was low.  I loved it!!! Bahumut crowed.  Shawn smirked.  I learned from the best.  You  Ain't it the truth Bahumut sighed.

---At Magneto's Base---

            A lone figure stood in the center of the training room, staff held loosely.  Suddenly, several holographic images sprang to life around him, each one moving almost to fast for the human eye to follow.  The figure raised its staff and swung it in an arc.  A crescent of silver energy pulsed along the path traveled by the tip of the staff, before exploding outward.  It passed through all of the holograms and slammed into the far wall of the room.  The figure lowered its staff and spoke into the hush that had fallen after the explosion had died down

            "Soon I will wreck my vengeance upon the O'Reily clan for what was done to me!" the figure whispered in a tone that chilled the very soul.

---To be Continued—

So Shawn is treating some of the guys to a little lunch.  For those of you who know me by now, you know that it's gonna be a _lot_ more happening than just that.  Wanna see what happens?  Find out next time!  In the meantime, Read & Review please!


	10. Duncan has no Honor? Big Suprise

Take the Long Way Home

            Whoa dude!  Chapter 10!  I can't believe how far I've gotten!  *Draco and Shawn walk by.  Shawn is _still_ counting his money from the game two chapters back.*  "I can't believe you managed to get those reviewers to settle down without bloodshed," Draco remarks to me.  No thanks to you, ya overgrown gecko.  I'm just lucky that they started arguing over who was going to "convince" me that they should be my favorite reviewer first, while I snuck off.  I wanted to get out of there before things got physical.  "So how'd you get the arm sling?"  Mumble mumble.  "Say what?"  I TRIPPED AND FELL ON MY ARM OKAY?!!!!  Both of them blink.  "Testy aren't we?" Shawn asks mildly.  FIC!  START!  NOW!  Thanatos chooses this moment to gallop by, using his staff as a hobby-horse, screaming "HIGH-HO SIILLVERRR; AWAY!!"  WHO GAVE HIM SUGAR!!!!!!!  "Calm down, remember your blood pressure," Shawn says.  AAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!!! *Sounds of me tearing out hair*

Animeluvr1- Hmmmmm, a blow shit up day?  _Ee_nteresting.  Personally, I think Logan has a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, _eensy-weensy_ good side.  Somewhere.  That's the side that's nice to Kitty and Rouge.  When he can find it. As to the explanation bout Bahumut and Shawn, keep reading; all will be explained in time.  In three or four more chapters to be precise.  And I'm still not sure who's gonna make the first move.  Guess we'll all find out together, huh?  One question though.  By THE Hoard, do you mean the Orcs from the Warcraft PC game series? 'Cause that's the only Hoard I've ever really heard of.  Okay, I lied, one last thing.  What the heck does 'deck' mean?

D-Ark- Thank you; I consider you to be an extremely accomplished writer, so this was high praise indeed.  There's a little more plot development this chapter, or at least hints of it.  BlacknightGarurumon huh?  Cool.  But I got ya beat.  I came up with an entire evolutionary line for Metalkoromon.  Metalagumon (looks like the name, except it wears a backwards baseball cap and a basketball jersey with a lightning bolt on it [attacks are Lightning Pitch and Lightning Spike, which is why he's got the sports motif] Ultima digivolves (My version of crest digivolution without the crest) to Lasermon (looks like an armored Monocromon with a large gatling gun turret mounted on his back) Mega digivolves to Metaldramon (looks like a metal European dragon.)  All of them are vaccine types and muy powerful.  Yes I know, I have too much time on my hands.

Disclaimer: surprise me

Chapter 10- Duncan has no honor?  Big surprise

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

            "Okay, let me get this straight.  I said 'easy peesy lemon squeezey', _and 'which way did he go'?  No wonder she slapped me.  You take a left here Scott."  Shawn was in the front seat of Scott's convertible, talking to Kurt and Bobby, who were in back, while giving directions to the place he had suggested for lunch, Uncle Eddie's Cafe.  "But seriously, why did she call me an idiot?  I didn't do anything wrong."  He puzzled over it for a moment.  "At least I __think I didn't."_

            "Ah no vone really understands ze female half of ze species," Kurt waved a hand dismissively.

            "Yeah," Bobby piped up, "The day a guy understands a woman is the day Wolverine starts dancing around with Sabretooth in tutus."

            "_A-men brother!" Shawn sighed._

            Actually, I think she may have been a little ticked about that bit of ogling you did in the briefing room," Scott snickered.  Shawn flushed redder than his pupils, but he managed to pull a comeback out.  Kinda.

            "You notice-eh… I mean; _what_ ogling?" Shawn asked innocently, while Kurt and Bobby laughed it up.  _Real_ smooth, kid  Bahumut of course, putting his two cents in.

            "Aw, c'mon man, we all saw how you had to swallow at least twice to keep from drooling all over the place," Bobby smirked.  "Not that I blame you, she's defiantly ten-alarm hottie; with three, no strike that, four exclamation marks on hottie," he added, almost as an afterthought.  Kurt nodded in agreement.  Shawn turned around in the seat and gave them a Look.  Not just a 'look', but a 'Look' as in a, 'just _think_ about trying anything with her and I'll take you out; and they will never, _ever, find the body,' look before turning back around._

            Kurt shivered, even though you couldn't tell because of the hologram.  "I thought Herr Logan was ze only vone who could give a look like zat," he whispered to Bobby.  The Iceman nodded.

            "It reminds me of the way Logan looked after I put the purple dye in his shampoo," he replied.  He shuddered, remembering how long it had taken for the instructor to calm down.  He had been on best behavior for the entire week, and he still thought that Logan flexed his hands a little when ever he saw Bobby coming out of or going into a bathroom, as if wanting to wrap them around the boy's throat.

            "That's it right there Scott."  Shawn intruded on Bobby's thoughts, pointing out a mid sized café style restaurant, with some large tables set up near the sidewalk.  There was a couple just leaving as they pulled up, a busty blonde woman in a corset type top and a large, rough-cut man with long, unkempt, dirty-blonde hair.  They were walking away, so none of the boys saw the man's face, but Shawn caught a glimpse of the woman's as she turned and said something to the man.  Her face had an expression on it that held both aloofness and no small amount of disgust.  Almost like a queen who's being forced to talk to a pig herder Bahumut mused.  You say something? Sawn asked  Nah, just thinking aloud, so to speak  Whatever  Shawn shrugged it off.

            The four of them were seated and served their drinks by a pretty young waitress, who gave Kurt a _little_ more attention than he really wanted.  "Something wrong hon?" the waitress, whose name tag read 'Kelly' asked when he started to squirm around in his seat.

            "You'll have to excuse my friend," Shawn chuckled, "I've heard that he's kinda got a girlfriend, and from what I gather, he's not the type to keep a harem."  Shawn had made it his business to snoop around and try to dig up the dirt on any and all relationships at the Institute.  It was kind of a hobby for him, this meddling in relationships.

            Scott and Bobby snorted, while Kurt looked like he couldn't decide whether to kill Shawn right then and there, or die of shame himself.

            Kelly covered her mouth with one hand as she blushed.  "Oops, I didn't know I was trespassing," she giggled as she took their orders.  Shawn and Kurt both had burgers, Scott had a sub and Kurt opted for the Ham and Swiss.  As she left, the busboy passed her, on his way to the recently vacated table.  A very familiar busboy; with shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair.  Scott sprayed his drink across the table, narrowly missing soaking the Shawn and Bobby, when he caught sight of him.

            "ALVERS?!?" he choked, "What the _hell_ are _you doing here?!?!" Lance whirled as he heard the voice of his most hated rival.  He scowled when he found the source of the voice._

            "_Summers," he growled.  He started towards the table, but stopped short when he caught sight of the rest of the group.  One face in particular stopped him.  Said face was slurping on a Mt. Dew when he noticed Lance._

            "Oh, hey Lance; wazzup?"  Shawn gave him a small wave before returning his attention to his drink. He looked up after a second.  "What?!"  Scott's mouth was hanging open, while Kurt was wiggling a finger in his ear, thinking something was _really wrong with his hearing.  Bobby was looking like he expected someone to tell him he was on Candid Camera._

            Scott was the first one to regain coherent speech.  "You KNOW him?!?!" he nearly shouted.  "Do you _realize_ exactly who and what he is?" he asked in a dangerous tone, getting up into Shawn's face from across the table.

            Shawn took another slurp of pop before looking Scott straight in the eye.  "Lance Alvers, codename: Avalanche.  Known Brotherhood member, sometimes stands in as impromptu leader. Has authority issues, but always ready to do what he believes must be done in any given situation.  Has a longstanding thing for one Kitty Pryde.  Also has an ongoing rivalry with one Scott Summers."  He gave Scott a piercing look before continuing.  "Friends include Todd Tolenski, Fred Dukes and Shawn O'Reily."  He took another casual sip of pop while Bobby, Kurt and Scott all stared at him.  "I believe that just about covers it."  He paused.  "And if you don't get out of my face in ten seconds, they'll be picking up what's left of you in a Dust-buster, savvy?"  (Gotta love 'Pirates of the Caribbean'; Captain Sparrow da bomb!)  Scott gulped and backed off a little, he hadn't forgotten what one of those fireballs of Shawn's could do.

            Lance snickered a little as he watched the face off.  Scott had backed down fairly quickly at the implied threat.  The look on his face had been priceless!  "Apparently, Shawn's private space is sacred to him; violate it and you get burned, literally,' he thought.  His train of thought stopped when Shawn turned and spoke to him.

            "What _are you doing here anyways man?"_

            Lance fingered the material of his uniform meaningfully as he spoke.  "I'm writing a new country hit single.  What do ya _think I'm doing here?"_

            "Um, working?" Bobby guessed.  Scott and Kurt both palmed their faces while Lance shot Shawn a look of sympathy.  "What?"

            "I didn't know you had a job Lance," Kurt said.

            "There are a lot of things you don't know about me Elf," Lance retorted.  "But how else do you expect us to pay for the heating and water at the boardinghouse?  Threaten the water and gas companies?  Ask Magneto or Mystique for cash?  The only reason they haven't evicted us is cause I've been able to make payments.  Barely.  Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to work."  With that, he turned back to the table he had been clearing off, tossing a "see ya later", over his shoulder to Shawn.

            The others settled back into their seats while they waited for their food.  Bobby broke the uneasy silence that had settled.  "So… how did you meet Lance?" he asked Shawn.

            "Kinda had a run in with Pietro; left the guy seeing double," he chuckled at his joke, while the others looked confused.  Luckily, further explanation was cut off by a girl yelling, "Hey, Kurt!"  Even through the holograph, you could see Kurt's face light up.

            "Amanda!" he cried, as a tan skinned girl with black hair hugged him from behind and gently kissed him on the cheek.

            "Care to introduce us after you get through?  I'm pretty sure that we've already established that she's your girlfriend." Shawn commented dryly.  Bobby chuckled while Scott shot a frown in Shawn's direction, which was pointedly ignored.  Both Amanda and Kurt blushed, although you couldn't see Kurt's blush.

            "Amanda, this is Shawn, a new student at the Institute.  Shawn, this is Amanda, mein girlfriend." Kurt made the introductions.  Shawn offered his hand, which Amanda shook without hesitation.

            "So… if you're a student there, you must be a mutant too, right?" she asked.

            He replied in a deadpan voice with an absolutely straight face.  "Actually I'm the host body for an alien invader, who plans to use his man-eating pumpkins of doom to subjugate the entire planet."  He smiled at her, then said, "Yeah I'm a mutant, but no one's exactly sure what all I can do.  But I _do know I can do this."  He held up his hand and concentrated on it for a moment.  Small gray scales began to cover the skin, as his fingernails grew longer and sharper.  After a moment, he held up his hand for her to see.  The knuckles had become larger, his fingers were longer and now ended in sharp claws, and the entire hand was covered in fine, grey, diamond shaped scales._

            "So you're a shape shifter?"

            "Not exactly.  I think I'm just limited to anything between my human and my fully transformed form, whatever that may be.  Like Rahne," as he spoke, he reabsorbed the scales and claws as his hand shifted back to normal.  "Plus I can spit fire balls when I transform."

            "But you'll never manage to be as cute as Kurt is, no matter what you transform into," Amanda cooed, nuzzling her boyfriend's cheek.  Bobby and Shawn shared one of those looks of complete understanding that friends are capable of.  This one said, 'I think I'm gonna be sick'!

            Shawn quickly excused himself from the table, saying that he had to take care of something.  Man, Kurt wasn't kidding when he said chicks dig the fuzzy dude Bahumut groaned.  I know, I swear it looked like she was going to jump him! Shawn replied.  Too bad Maria doesn't have the same idea Bahumut remarked slyly Yeah, it's- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!  The only reply that Shawn got was Bahumut's laughter.  Shawn just sighed as he headed to the bathroom.  He had come to expect this sort of behavior from his mental friend, ever since he was three and Bahumut had first started to speak with him.

            Back outside, Amanda had dragged over a chair from an adjacent table, and was now leaning against Kurt while she talked with him, occasionally directing a comment or question to the other two.  Unfortunately, this peaceful moment was shattered when a venomous voice drawled, "Well. Well, what do we have here?  Some mutie freaks and a little mutie lover."

            Scott turned his head and shot a glare at Duncan that had almost as much force behind it as one of his optic blasts.  Amanda however, shot up and got right up into the jocks face, ignoring the ten goons behind him.  "Listen you bigoted little basterd!  What makes you think that you're so much better than them?  I'm going out with Kurt because he's sweet and he's kind and everything that you could never be!"  As she spoke, she jabbed him in the chest with her finger.

            The entire time she was yelling and jabbing at him, Duncan was getting madder and madder.  At the end of her tirade, he raised his hand, intent on striking her clear across the face to teach her to keep her mutie loving mouth shut.  Kurt, Bobby and Scott all tensed.  If he hit Amanda, it would be war!  Amanda realized that she might have pushed the jock too far, and her eyes widened as his hand began to descend.  But a cold voice stopped him mid-swing.  "Hit her Blondie, and I'll show you exactly what it feels like to swallow each and every one of your teeth."

            Duncan and more than half of his cronies paled and turned around, fear plain on their faces.  They came face to face with an irate looking Shawn.  "Hullo boyas," he said giving them a particularly toothy grin.  There were two twin thuds as two of the guys who had faced him in the alley, while sober, decided that fainting was better than running away screaming like little babies.

            "_YOU_!" Duncan snarled.  He had been slightly drunk during the fight, and had managed to convince himself, after several days, that he being slightly tipsy was the reason the younger boy had won.

            "Me," Shawn smirked.  Then his smirk turned to a frown with frightening speed.  "Only a dishonorable coward would strike a woman without just cause.  How about you fight someone who'll provide more of a challenge?"  Then he smirked again.  "Unless of course; you're a craven little coward." Duncan stopped backing away

            'I don't know what craven means, but _nobody_ calls me a _coward_!'  "Fine ya mutie loving freak!  Right here, right now!"  Shawn nodded.

            "Very well then, just give me a moment."  He reached into his jacket pocket, and retrieved his CD player and headphones.  Earlier, when they were just leaving, Scott had suggested that he leave it behind.  Shawn had looked at him like he had just suggested for him to leave his lungs behind.  Scott had discreetly dropped the subject after that.

            Shawn hooked the player to his jeans and settled the headphones around his neck.  He plugged the headphones into the CD player and cranked the volume up to the max.  The player already had a cd in it, so all he did was press skip until it landed on number nine.  Then he settled into a fighting crouch, one hand hovering near the play button.  Duncan, his cronies and Amanda watched all this with something between awe at Shawn's cool attitude and disbelief at his actions.  Amanda returned to Kurt's side and asked in a hushed voice, "Shouldn't one of you try and help him out?"

            Bobby nodded an affirmative, then called, "Hey Shawn!  You want us to call the ambulance for this guy once you get done with him; so you don't have too?"

            Shawn shook his head.  "Let his cronies take care of him," he declared.

            During this time, Shawn was having a rapid fire planning session with Bahumut.  So should I really hurt him, or what?  I'd say a lesson in humiliation is in order  Don't you mean humility?  Did I _say_ humility  No  There ya go

            "This isn't gonna be a repeat of last time!" Duncan snarled.  With that, he charged Shawn, fists up and ready to do some damage.

            Shawn just grinned and punched play on his CD player.  "The Rockafeller Skank" began blasting from the headphones around his neck as he sprang into action.

            Duncan's initial charge faltered for a moment before he resumed it.  He tried to throw a right hook, but Shawn simply ducked under it.  "Your stance is too wide," he commented in a conversational tone.

            "Shut _up!" growled the jock, attempting another swing._

            "Just trying to make conversation Blondie.  By the way, you're telegraphing that right jab.  I can see it coming from a mile away."  Shawn dodged to the left, then threw a soft left jab, so light, he didn't even feel it rated being called a punch.  It connected easily, rocking his opponent back on his heels.

            This guy's even more pathetic the _second_ time ya fight him! Bahumut snickered.  I know, I know… but it's not his fault his punch can't break wind  I think that it's time to show him some of your fancier moves  It's your strategy

            Shawn dodged another swing, then went on the offensive.  He lightly jabbed Duncan in his belly, which had been pathetically guarded, causing the older boy to bend down, clutching at the afflicted area.  Shawn leaped forward, looking as if he was trying to tackle the jock by the head.  In stead, he used his opponents head as a springboard, launching himself to the opposite side of their 'battlefield'.  As he passed over Duncan, he formed a single claw, and slashed through the belt his opponent was wearing.

            As soon as the other he recovered Duncan spun around, murder flashing in his eyes, to find his opponent, arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently.  "I'm waaaiiiting," Shawn drawled in a bored voice.  Duncan balled his fists and charged, a howl of rage escaping his lips.  That's when the last strand that had been holding his belt up snapped.

            When Duncan had gotten dressed that day, he had chosen extremely baggy jeans.  So baggy in fact, that a belt had been the only way to hold them up.  The operative word in that sentence is _had_.

            When his belt broke, his jeans dropped and gave the spectators a view that wasn't really appreciated.  Scott and Bobby both snickered, while Kurt and Amanda covered each other's eyes.  Even Duncan's goons started hooting.  Duncan had on a pair of red satin boxers with lace edging and the words "Come and get it" plastered across the front.  He tried to pull up his pants, facial expression set somewhere between "Kill all witness-es" and "Die of shame on the spot".

            Shawn was standing back, enjoying his work, when a sudden flash of pain caused him to cringe.  It had felt like something cracking inside his skull.  "Ughhh," he winced, clutching at his head.  _Kill the threat_ a voice hissed in his head.  And it wasn't Bahumut.  'No, not now!' Shawn thought frantically, shaking his head to clear it.  He was so wrapped up in this, he didn't see Duncan's fist coming towards him.  He did however, see whole galaxies explode underneath his eyelids when said fist connected with his face.

            Duncan stood over the fallen boy, gloating as much as can be possible while holding your pants up with one hand.  He turned away, a disdainful sneer on his face.  "That's what I'm gonna dish out to any other mutie loving freaks."  Scott and Bobby moved to check on Shawn as Duncan swaggered away.

            A chilling growl, however, stopped everyone in their tracks.

            Shawn rose up, a murderous gleam in his reptilian eye.  A faint gleam of scales was visible on his face, and his eyebrows were nearly gone, replaced by a ridge of scales.  Fangs were visible at the corners of his mouth.  But there were some new features as well.  Kurt called over to Scott, "Scott; look at his back!"

            Along their friend's neck, small bone-colored protrusions were growing out of his spine.  There were two small oval shaped bumps, each about half an inch in length, with a two inch high, thorn shaped spike in-between them.  From the way his shirt was tented along his back, the growths ran the length of his spine.  "He's never done _that before," Bobby scratched his head._

            "I think he's tapping into more of his mutation!" Scott announced.  Kurt shot him a look that said 'Ya _think?'_

            Shawn walked up to Duncan, who appeared to be slightly unnerved by this new development.  The trail of urine making its way down his pants leg confirmed this.  "Y-y-y-you're a mutant!" he gasped.  Shawn got up in his face and grinned, showing off several perfectly formed fangs.

            "_Y-y-y-you're right!" he mocked, before delivering a beautiful spinning drop kick to the other boy's head.  Once again, Duncan lay crumpled at Shawn's feet.  Shawn loomed over the fallen jock, an evil gleam in his eye.  _Finish him off!_ a voice hissed in his mind, carrying the same feral tone as Bahumut, except on a much greater level.  Unlike Bahumut however, this voice carried absolutely no trace of any human qualities such as kindness or understanding._

            NO! Shawn shouted into his mind, Bahumut!  Help me contain him!  This should just take a second kid; but it may sting a little Bahumut replied  A moment later, another wave of pain swept over Shawn.

---Back at the Institute---

            Jean was reading a book in her room, when her abilities picked up on something.  It was a psychic shockwave, so faint as to be almost unnoticeable.  She immediately put her book down and placed her hands on either side of her head.  Professor? she sent telepathically.

            Yes Jean, I felt it too.

            What was that?  I've never felt anything like it

            I believe it was some sort of containment wave, but it was gone before I could find the source The Professor answered.

---Back at the Café---

            Shawn shook his head as he turned and walked away from Duncan's still form.  'I can't believe he was able to break free, even for a second!' he thought.

            Scott, Bobby, Kurt and Amanda all gathered round him.  "You okay?" Bobby asked.  Shawn shook his head.

            "Guys I got a headache, I'm gonna head back to the Institute."  He pulled out his wallet and pulled a bill at random from it.  "Use this to pay for the meal and you guys can split whatever's left over amongst yourselves."  He handed the bill to Bobby, turned, sprouted his wings and tail, and flew off.  Bobby took a closer look at the bill he had been handed.

            "Holy SHIT!  He handed me a Benjamin!"

---To be continued---

What is the meaning behind Shawn's strange headache?  Who or what is this third persona in his head.  Find out later.  Next chapter, Shawn's uncle comes for a visit, bringing news, both good and bad, his guitar, and Mozart.  Who's Mozart you ask?  Find out next time, but in the meantime, Read & Review!


	11. Say hello to Mozart, Scott!

Take the Long Way Home

            Here's my Christmas present to all of you readers, chapter 11!  Time to introduce the man who pretty much raised Shawn; as well as mention two of his old friends.  Plus meet a _very interesting friend of his from the dojo.  Maria walks in, claws bared.  "This _special friend_ wouldn't happen to be a _girl_, now would it?" she asks sweetly.  No.  "Good, then I won't kill you."  Okay… I think I'll start the fic now before somebody gets hurt.  Namely me!_

Silver- Read the first paragraph of chapter four.  The answer is _right there._

LW- thanks man, and all the answers to your questions shall be revealed in time.

L1701E-Thank you for the permission to use Kid Razor, he will be appearing soon.  And yes, there are a few similarities between Jake and Shawn, but these are purely coincidental, much like the similarities between your created Dreadnok, Virus, and a character of my own creation that will be making an appearance later on in the fic.  Also, do you think I could use Tusk as well?  I kinda need him for this chapter I'm planning.

Animeluvr1-look at it this way; if I had a life, I probably wouldn't have time to write this story.  You know Bobby; he lets his mouth run without letting his brain check the words that are coming out of it.  Besides, Logan and X-23 don't look all _that_ much alike; do they?  And how is it possible to lose something you never had?  Kidding, kidding…umm could you put the flamethrower down now?  Please?  *Draco sticks his head into the room* "I would run now if I were you."  Good idea…YAAAAHHHHH!!!

P.S.: Due to events beyond my control, I will be unable to post any chapters during the Christmas/New Years break.  Don't blame me, blame the piece of shit computer I have at home.  I've been typing this whole thing on a school owned laptop that I'll have to return at the end of the school year.  Hopefully, I will have a better home computer before that.

Disclaimer: The purple flying squirrels own all!!!

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Chapter 11-Say hello to Mozart, Scott!

            In a show of complete agreement, Scott, Kurt and Bobby had all agreed to not mention the fight at the café to any of the instructors when they got back.  However, they hadn't agreed to tell any of the other _students_.  Bobby told Jubilee and Scott told Jean, of course, who in turn told the rest of the Institute residents.  But by the time it reached the instructor's ears, it sounded like Duncan had attacked Amanda with an Uzi and Shawn had killed the jock, so they just shrugged it off as some stupid story and let it lay.

            It was now Sunday and the greater majority of the student body was lounging about in various parts of the mansion.  Shawn was in his room, messing with some tunes on his keyboard while he, Bobby and Jamie fine tuned a new plan they had cooked up for Scott.

            "So we've got everything planned out.  But one thing still bothers me," Jamie scratched his head as he looked at a complex diagram on the floor.  "Where the _heck are we gonna find a baby alligator, a fire ants nest and steak flavored honey?"_

            Shawn winced as he hit a wrong note, "I got connections.  But I still say it would be better if we put the laxatives into a cake and said it was a gift from Jean."

            Bobby looked up from his doodling on the diagram.  "Hey, do you guys hear something?" he asked.  Shawn paused in his playing and the three of them strained their ears.

            "It sounds like…ZZ Top's 'Gimme All Your Lovin'?" Shawn mused.  He got up from his bed and looked out the window.  "No way," he nearly whispered.  Then he shouted it.  "NO _WAY_!!!" he yelled.  Pulling into the Institutes drive was a jeep that was even more battered and broken down looking than Lance's.  There was a tarp over the back, but the top was uncovered and you could plainly see someone in the front.  The jeep was also pulling a tiny trailer behind it.

            Bobby and Jamie came up along side him, rubbing their ears.  "What's all the shouting about?" Jamie asked.  Shawn just stood there for a moment before dashing out of the room, hollering at the top of his lungs.

            "WAAAAHOOOOOOO!" he yelled, racing down the halls.  Scott and Jean poked their heads out from a room.

            "Hey!  Some people are trying to study here!" Scott snapped.

            "Since when does studying involve lipstick?" Amara, who had stuck her head out of the opposite door, asked, raising one eyebrow.  Jean just blushed while Scott stammered and brushed at the tell-tale marks on his face.

            "Might as well see what's got his boxers in a bundle," Sam commented as he passed by with Rahne.

            Outside, the jeep had pulled to a stop and a man was just getting out when Shawn burst through the doors.  "SENSEI!" he yelled, throwing himself at the man.  The man laughed as he easily caught the slightly taller boy and grabbed him in a bear hug.  The rest of the students gathered at the top of the steps and stared.  Whatever images they had come up with for Shawn's uncle, it defiantly hadn't been _this_!

            Shawn's uncle was about 5' 10" and was wearing a loud orange tropical shirt and faded jeans.  He had on a pair of hiking boots and Yankees baseball cap.  Underneath the hat, his hair was a shade of brown similar to Shawn's, but it was darker, and pulled into a short ponytail at the back.  His hazel eyes twinkled with a mischievousness that was scarcely contained.

            Up on the roof, Remy scratched his head with the tip of his staff.  "Dis be Shawn's _oncle_?" he muttered.  He shrugged and leapt down to the back yard of the Institute. He had already done what he had come to do.  His little delivery was tucked away where the person it was meant for would find it without any trouble.

            Shawn finished greeting his uncle and turned and called to the assembled students and teachers that were gathered there.  "Everyone, come and meet my uncle."

            Almost everyone gathered round, only Maria hanging back a little.  'I know I've seen him somewhere before, but I can't remember _where_!' she thought as she studied his profile.

            "Sensei, this is Bobby, our own personal ice machine and prank master extraordinaire.  That's Jamie who Bobby and I have taken under our figurative wings to teach the fine art of pranking.  Rahne is the one next to Sam, who's literally cannon fodder. Amara's the one with the royal attitude…"  At this point he was forced to duck an impromptu wave of fire.  "Jubilee is the one in the trench coat. (AN: I can't remember if she had the coat in the series or not, so I'm just gonna let her have it.)  Tabby is the blonde; Kurt is the dude with the tail.  The brown hired girl is Kitty, the red head is Jean, and the guy with glasses is her boy friend Scott."  Scott and Jen both blushed at this little tidbit of info.  "Rouge is the one with the white streak in her hair, Ray's the one with those little red spikes in his hair, Roberto, and the one hanging at the back is Maria."  Shawn introduced them each in turn, and each in turn received a friendly nod.

            When he got to Maria, Shawn's uncle raised one eyebrow almost imperceptibly. He had noted a change in the tone of Shawn's voice when he referred to the girl.  It was faint, not even noticeable to most people.  But he had spent enough time around Shawn; training him, helping him with homework, talking with him about a nightmare or nursing him through the flu, that he could tell when there was something going on.

            And something was _definitely_ going on.

            Shawn turned and pointed out the different instructors.  "That's Dr. McCoy with the full body fur coat, Ms. Munroe, Prof. Xavier, and the guy coming out of the garage is Mr. Logan."  Again, the nod, this time accompanied by a handshake for Beast and the Prof.  When he got to Storm, he elegantly kissed her hand.

            "_Enchante_ _mademoiselle," he murmured.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Logan bristle slightly.  Storm merely gave him a slight smile.  When he went to shake Logan's hand, the other man put a little more pressure into his grip than necessary.  Shawn's uncle merely cocked an eyebrow._

            Shawn turned to the students and instructors.  "Everybody, this is my uncle and sensei, Thomas O'Reily…"

            "Also known as The Wily O'Reily," Logan added.

            "I see my reputation precedes me," Shawn's uncle laughed.  "But please, just call me Tom, or Mr. O'Reily."  He looked at Storm. "And you can call me anytime," he added with a wink.  Storm blinked while Logan bristled even more.  Shawn just rolled his eyes while Amara, Jubilee and Kitty all giggled.

            "This is an unexpected surprise Mr. O'Reily," the professor said.  "Would you like to come inside and tell us the reason for your visit?"

            Tom nodded and started to follow the Prof.  He stopped suddenly and smacked himself in the forehead.  "Is something wrong Mr. O'Reily?" the professor asked.

            "Yeah, I forgot something in the jeep.  But can ask you a question real fast?"

            "Depends on the question bub," Wolverine huffed.

            "What are your policies on animals?"

            The professor raised an eyebrow.  "Why do you ask?"  But Shawn interrupted him.

            "You didn't bring who I think you did, did you?" he asked in disbelief.

            His uncle shrugged.  "What would you have had me do, leave him at the dojo?  He would have turned the place upside down, terrified the students, maybe even set up another poker game!"

            "That's beside the point; you still shouldn't have brought him here! He'll cause mass chaos!"

            The students and staff listened to the exchange with mounting worry.  "What type of animal do you think they're talking about?"  Amara whispered to Kitty.

            "Maybe it's some type of monkey?" she whispered back, "They did say it could play poker."

            Logan stepped between the two arguing martial artists.  "Just what type of animal is this thing bub?" he growled at Shawn's uncle.

            "I might as well just introduce him to you," The other man sighed, walking back to the jeep.  Instead of heading towards the trailer, where everyone who cared assumed the animal in question was being kept, he headed for the back of the jeep.  He banged on the side and shouted, "Wake up, we're here already!"

            The tarp covering the back of the jeep stirred and a low, grumbling growl sounded.

            "Ah don know bout the rest of ye, but I _know_ tha tha's no monkey," Rahne growled, tensing.

            "Ah, relax, he won't actually _hurt_ anyone.  He might nip at you if you annoy him, and play a few tricks, but other than that he's harmless," Shawn said, doing very little to quite her fears, or any one else's for that matter.

            The cover over the jeep stirred again and a large tan muzzle poked out from under it.  The muzzle was followed by two slightly sleepy amber eyes.  A sleek body was followed closely by a bushy tail.  In the end, a huge male coyote was sitting on the ground next to the jeep.  He was a full three and three quarters of a foot tall at the shoulder, making him larger than most wolves!

            "Everybody, this is Mozart," Shawn sighed, indicating the canine with a sweeping gesture.  "Watch out for him, there's a reason the Indian's called the coyote the Trickster."

            "Oh my," Beast murmured.  The rest of the instructors and all of the students seemed to be in varying states of shock and interest.  Mozart took in all of their looks with a gleam in his eyes, then yawned loudly, seeming to stick his tongue out just emphasize his very large, very white, very _sharp looking teeth.  He then went up and began to sniff at each of them discreetly._

            "Um…Shawn, what is he doing?" Jean asked nervously.

            "Relax; he's just getting to know you.  He has this weird thing where he can tell if he's gonna like someone by their scent.  Just don't make any moves that could antagonize him.  Those teeth 'aint just for show," Shawn's uncle said.

            When Mozart got to Kitty, he stopped, looked her in the eye, cocked his head and gave her his most innocent puppy-dog look.  She fell for it; hook, line, and sinker.

            "How CUTE!" she squealed, bending down and wrapping her arms around his neck in a bear hug.  Shawn snickered as Mozart's eyes bugged, and he began to whimper after a few seconds, tugging futilely against her grip.

            "Uh…Kitty?  Ah think he needs air," Sam hazarded.

            "Oops," Kitty blushed, letting go of the coyote's neck.  He shot her a dirty look, then continued with his inspection.  When he got to Scott, he stopped, sniffed the air around the boy, circled till he was behind Scott, and lifted his leg.

            "MOZART!" Shawn yelled.  The coyote put his leg back down and turned to give Shawn an offended look.  All of the other boys and most of the girls started laughing.  Only Jean and Scott looked offended.  Storm looked shocked, as did Beast.  The Professor had merely quirked an eyebrow and Wolverine was struggling to hide a smile.

            Scott shot the canine a dirty look.  'Did he just chuckle?' he wondered, hearing a sound coming from Mozart.  The coyote innocently continued his inspection of the rest of the assembled people.

            When he got to Maria, he stopped, sniffed the air once more then shot a quizzical glance at Logan.  "What are you lookin at _mutt?" the feral x-man growled, unsheathing his claws for emphasis.  Mozart dismissed the threat with an indifferent snort.  Then he rubbed his head up against the feral clone's legs.  Maria made startled sound, moving back in surprise._

            "Relax, I think he really likes you," Shawn said, looking on in interest.  "I don't get it; he _never takes to a person this fast!  The only exceptions were Sensei and me."_

            A loud crashing sound from the far side of the Institute grounds, near the woods, interrupted any further debate on anything.  All heads whipped around to see the plume of dust that was lazily drifting into the air.  "What the _HELL!" Tom exclaimed._

            Scott and Jean shared a look.  "Brotherhood," they said simultaneously.

            "A fight?" Shawn's uncle asked eagerly.  Kitty nodded slowly, not really sure why he was so eager.  She found out soon enough.

            "Mozart, take point!  Shawn cover the right flank!" he shouted vaulting over his jeep.  He grabbed something out of the passenger side seat as he went.  It was some sort of belt with three large lumps on them that none of the mutants could make out, due to the speed the man was moving at.  Mozart easily caught up with, and then passed him, rushing to take the point position.  Shawn shrugged apologetically, then raced after his uncle.  Everyone just stared after them for a few moments.

            "Logan," Storm asked quietly, "What just happened."

            The X-man in question shook his head slowly.  "To be perfectly honest 'Roro, I haven't got a frigging clue," he muttered.

            "What are we waiting for, Mr. O'Reily could get hurt!" Jean said, shaking off her shock.  She used her powers to levitate and raced after the already vanished figures.  The rest of the X-men and New Mutant teams hot on her trail.

---With our Heroes---

            Pietro cackled wildly as he watched a larger section of the wall collapse.  "This'll show those X-men who's _really in charge!"_

            "Whatever," Lance muttered.  Out of all of them, he was the only not in battle gear.  'The only reason I even _agreed_ to do this is because Quicksilver's daddy would have made my life more of a nightmare than it already is,' he thought.  'How he would do it is beyond me,' he added with a sardonic quirk of his lips.

            "Do we really have to trash the place?" Toad asked nervously.

            Pietro glared at him.  "Give me one reason why we shouldn't trash the place!"  He snapped.  Out of the corner of his eye, Lance saw Wanda move forward just a bit before going back to her original position.  He smirked at this.

            'Guess Shawn's advice really helped Toad out.  If he keeps it up he might actually be able to ask her on a date without getting hexed into one of the next three time zones,' he thought.

            "C'mon, I wanna _smash_ something!" The Blob ground out, grinding one huge fist into his palm.  A blur of motion interrupted their little powwow, as a man came running towards the wreckage.

            "Hey Wanda, doesn't that guy look sorta like…" Toad began.  She nodded in return.  Pietro however, was to occupied by the prospect of an easy fight to listen.  He rubbed his hands together gleefully, and raced off. 'I oughta be able to have some fun with this old geezer,' he thought.

            "Hey old timer!  What's the matter?  Lose your prunes?" he mocked.  The man just looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.  "What's so funny?" Pietro demanded crossly.

            "Nothin Twiggy, just thinking how much _fun kicking your ass is gonna be."  The older man replied.  Pietro's jaw dropped.  This, this __human dared to think that he could beat the great Pietro Maximoff?  And why the **_HELL_ was he calling him by that _stupid_ nickname!?**_

            "I'm gonna flatten you so fast, it'll look like an act of god," he spat.  The older man said nothing, merely reached down and unhooked something from his belt.  It was a pair of headphones.  He settled them around his neck, and pressed the play button on the Walkman that was connected to said headphones.  A song began blaring from the device, a song that Pietro didn't recognize.

_[I make my livin off the evening news]_

_[Just give me something, something I can use]_

_[People love it when you lose. They love dirty laundry]_

            The man settled down into a crouch, giving Pietro the universal, 'come and get some' gesture with one hand.  Pietro gladly obliged, only to have his opponent gracefully handspring over him nearly a full sixteenth of a second before the punch should have hit.

            "You're telegraphing your punches," the man said in a conversational tone.  Lance started in surprise.  'That sounds familiar,' he thought, narrowing his eyes in speculation.  Toad watched in silence, while Blob cheered Pietro on.

            Wanda watched as the two fighters exchanged blows, only a quarter of her brother's punches connecting.  The other man's punches and kicks seemed to be light, as if he was just _playing.  And that __stupid song was starting to annoy her!  She conjured up a hex-bolt and prepared to throw it, when she heard a yipping sound coming from her left._

            She looked over, and saw what she at first mistook for Wolfsbane.  She shook her head.  'That _can't_ be Wolfsbane!  It's a _boy dog!'  The dog looked at her a moment, cocked his head to the side, then blew a raspberry at her.  _That_ got her attention!  (AN: I know, I __know, dogs can't do stuff like that, but Mozart aint exactly a normal coyote.  Explanation next chapter.)_

            She threw the hex-bolt at the canine, just wanting to scare it away.  Instead, the dog neatly sidestepped the bolt of energy, then gave her a look that said, 'Is that _all you _got_?'  That only served to make her mad.  She began to throw hex-bolts rapid fire, one right after the other.  But no matter how carefully she aimed, he seemed to be just one step ahead of her!  Even worse, he seemed to be __laughing at her, tongue lolling out of his mouth lazily, while his eyes seemed alive with mirth._

            "You're a tricky little basterd, aren't you?" she asked grimly, preparing yet another hex-bolt.  She nearly made the thing explode in shock when a deep, laughing voice seemed to sound in the surrounding air.

            "Girly, you have _no_ idea," the voice chuckled.  Toad, who had finally noticed that his crush was having trouble; bounded forward in order to give her a hand.  Unfortunately, he was intercepted by a slightly peeved Shawn.

            "What are you guys doing here!?" he snapped, glaring at Lance.  Lance held up his hands as if to say 'don't look at me; I'm just here to watch'.  Shawn redirected his glare towards Todd.

            "Hey, it aint my fault yo!  Quickie made us do this!  Me, Wanda an Lance didn't really want to trash the place!  Honest yo!" the amphibian protested, backing away from the martial artist.  Shawn sighed, he couldn't really blame Toad, the little guy wasn't really that great of a fighter, he couldn't really stand up to Pietro.  With the right training and a little effort on certain people's parts however…

            "Tell ya what I'm gonna do Toad," he glanced towards Wanda, who was engaged in a furious screeching fit at Mozart, mainly along the lines of 'stand still you fleabag!'  "I'll set up a rescue scenario with her, but you got to take her and Fred home.  Deal?"

            Toad thought it over for a moment.  "What do I gotta do?" he asked finally.  

            Shawn smiled, then simply said, "Run interference."  He turned and shouted at Mozart.  "YO, MUTT!"  Mozart's ears swiveled towards Shawn.  Wanda was so focused on taking Mozart out; she didn't even acknowledge the shouting.  "RED-42, HUTT, HUTT; HIKE!" Shawn yelled

            On the first 'HUTT' Mozart dodged to the left, to the right on the second, and on 'HIKE!' he ducked under one last hex-bolt, and rushed Wanda head on.  He slammed against her legs, knocking her off of her feet.  "That would be your cue," Shawn smiled.  Toad flashed him a thumbs up before hopping to the rescue.

            The rescue was actually fairly easy for Toad.  He came at Mozart from the side, lobbing huge amounts of slime.  Mozart yelped in surprise, then growled menacingly.  Toad skidded to a stop beside Wanda.  "Nice puppy," he gulped.  He stooped and helped Wanda back to her feet, never taking his eyes off of Mozart.  "I think it might be better to make a tactical retreat now," he gulped as an optic blast split the air over his head.

            "For once I agree with you," Wanda said, as the two of them beat a hasty retreat.

            "Dude, shouldn't you be leaving too?" Todd asked Lance as they passed.  Lance shook his head.

            "I haven't done anything, so why would they attack me?" he shrugged.  "Besides," he added, "I wanna see how this fight turns out."  He jerked his thumb towards Pietro and Tom.

            "You hit like a _girl_!" Pietro mocked, throwing another punch.

            "Well _you hit like a __gay man!" Tom returned as said punch connected with his open palm.  That __kind of pissed Quicksilver off.  He kicked his speed into high gear and started running circles around the older man._

            At this point, all of the X-men finally made their appearance.  "Is Mr. O'Reily fighting _Quicksilver?" Jean gasped._

            "Not for long," Logan growled unsheathing his claws.  He started forward, only to find Mozart and Shawn blocking his way.  "What are you _doing_?!" he snarled.

            "Let Sensei have a little fun," Shawn smiled. "He's not as powerless as you might think," he added cryptically.

            Back in the fight, Pietro had slowed down to gloat for a moment.  "Face it gramps, I've got you out classed!" he crowed.

            Tom smiled through his split lip.  "You may have me out classed, but I've got _you_ OUTNUMBERED!" He shouted.

            "What's he talking about?" Scott asked Shawn.

            "Zanzoken times a hundred and ten" the boy replied.

            "Zanzo-what?"

            "You'll see."

            Tom dropped his hands to his sides and just stood there.  "What are you gonna do old man?  Wait for me to die of boredom?" Pietro mocked.  Suddenly another Tom appeared next to the first.

            "WHAT THE _HELL?" Logan shouted.  Another copy appeared, then another, then another, and…(Well I think you get the idea.)  Within seconds, Pietro was surrounded by transparent copies._

            "Charles, do you know if Cerebro detected any new mutant signatures earlier?" Beast asked.

            "He's not a mutant Dr. McCoy." Shawn said.  "This is the secret technique of the Dragonfire Dojo, the Zanzoken, or after image technique."

            Pietro began to race through the copies, sneering as he went.  "Please, I've already seen this lame trick from that stupid Shawn kid!"

            "You can do this too?!" Jean looked at Shawn.  He shrugged.

            "I haven't been able to fully master the 'hundred and ten' part of the technique, but I have the basics of it down pat enough to produce at least ten copies, but that's pretty much my limit right now."

            "My _nephew is__ not _STUPID_!!!" one of the copies yelled.  New copies began to appear as the older ones faded away.  But there was one difference.  These copies were holding sais!(AN: For the uninformed, or merely stupid, think of Raphael, the red Ninja Turtle's, weapons.)_

            "Please, I can still take you!" Pietro sneered.  Lance shook his head.  'He's gonna mess up because of his stupid pride; again,' He thought sadly.

            Pietro began to run wildly through the copies searching for the real fighter.  Suddenly from his left, he heard the man singing along to one of the verses to the song he was _still listening to._

            "_Dirty little secrets; dirty little lies,"_

_            "We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pies"_

_            "Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry"_

            Pietro swerved towards the voice, but at the words 'love to cut you down to size', a single sai flew towards him from his right, embedding itself in the ground right in front of his foot.  He couldn't dodge in time, and tripped over it, sending him head over heels.  He stopped rolling however, when he hit the Blob.  (AN: the song is Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" for those of you who want to know.)

            "Don't take me out of the game coach," Pietro croaked, the sick grin of a boy who had ridden a roller coaster just _one_ too many times, spread over his face.

            "I think we should just go home Blob, commander-in-chief Pietro is looking a little green around the gills," Lance laughed.

            "Fine," Freddy scowled, slinging Pietro over his shoulder like a sack of flour.  Lance turned back and looked at the X-men, most of whom were in various states of speechlessness.

            "Sorry about the wall man," he said to Shawn.  He glanced at Kitty for a moment, misery showing plainly in his eyes.  Then he turned and walked away.  Kitty made a move as if to go after him, but Scott clamped a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

            "Well," Shawn's uncle said cheerfully, pulling his sai out of the dirt, "At least _he had some manners."  He brushed the dirt off of the tri-blade before sheathing it opposite its brother.  "And his friend proved to be _most_ entertaining," he added as an after thought.  After he said this, the students were all thinking something along the lines of 'this guy is _NUTS_!'_

            "How'd you?" Beast started to ask.

            "Do that?" Shawn's uncle shrugged.  "It's pretty much impossible to explain the Zanzoken.  All I really truly know about how it functions is that it takes intense concentration and a definite sense of direction.  If you don't think about where you're going, then the technique will fail."

            "Alright then, now that today's excitement is over, let's go back to the mansion," the professor said.  "Storm, could you please call the construction company and ask them to send someone out to repair this immediately?"

            "Of course Charles," she nodded.

            Everyone turned and began to file back to the Institute.  Tom hung back for a moment, then laid a hand on his nephew's shoulder.  "Something wrong Sensei?" Shawn asked, noting the dismal look on his uncle's face.

            The older man sighed.  "Shawn, it's about Hack and Slash."  He shook his head a little and sighed one more time as his nephew started to look concerned.  "Oh, no they're not hurt.  At least… they were both in good health when I last saw them.  But they're gone now.  They both left town not more than a week ago."

            Shawn looked like his uncle had just drawn a pistol and shot him right between the eyes.

---To be Continued---

I AM EVIL!!!!!  Find out exactly who Hack and Slash are, next chapter.  Also, we find out some surprising background info on Mozart.  Plus a little Lancitty gets started when Tom offers to do one of the most dangerous things you can do at the Institute…take Kitty for a driving lesson!  But Kitty gets a taste of her own medicine!  So as always, Read & Review!


	12. Road Rage & Reconciliation

Take the Long Way Home

            Chapter 12!  Now we learn more about the mysterious "Hack" and "Slash".  Also, we'll learn a bit more about the mysteries surrounding Mozart.  Not to mention a little road rage on the part of Tom O'Reily.  Let's see exactly what happens when he gives Kitty a taste of her own driving!

Animeluvr1-*Crosses arms* What's wrong with Don Henley?  I _like_ Don Henley's songs!

L1701E-You'll have to wait and find out with the rest of the readers, but I will tell you that they will each have a one or two chapter cameo, with possible additional cameos in later chapters for Razor.  BTW, thanks for the specs on Tusk and Razor's powers.

Naja-It's about _time_!  If you had a story, I would've reviewed it ten times over by now!  But thanks for the suggestions, I'll put them to good use.

AzureDragoness- O-o-o-o-kay…*Looks over at Shawn* I _think she might be a fan.  *Shawn gasps for air* "Ya __think!  I just hope Maria doesn't see this!"_

Disclaimer-All bow down before the great and powerful Toaster of _Doom_!

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Chapter 12-Road Rage & Reconciliation

            Shawn sat on his bed, staring blankly at the wall.  He had gone to his room immediately after his uncle had given him the details on his two best friend's departures, ignoring the questions of "What's wrong?" from his friends and roommate.

-Flashback-

            "Whadda ya mean GONE!?" Shawn shouted.  His uncle winced as his nephew's voice went up three octaves.

            "Just that kiddo.  Slash left to train with an old friend of his grandpa's.  I've taught him all I could.  After all, there's only so much a ninja can teach a samurai.  He took the Tetsaiga with him too."

-End Flashback-

            Sebastian 'Slash' Kamiya was of Japanese descent and the latest in a long, _long line of samurai.  Like Shawn, both his parents were dead.  He had lived in town with his grandfather, a spry old coot with the annoying habit of always saying 'dude' and 'man'.(Think Tyson's Grandpa from 'Beyblade'.)  He did it because he thought it made him look cool, but in all honesty it more often than not ended up embarrassing his grandson._

            Slash was a composed looking young man, whose serious face hid a brilliant tactical mind, especially when planning strategies on how to put the newest bully in place, or how to pull off a prank without getting caught.  He had been the tactician of what had been known as the "Prank Triad".

             The Tetsaiga was his family's ancestral sword.  Passed down through the generations, Slash's grandfather had often said that it was supposedly forged from the fang of a great and noble inu youkai, or Japanese dog demon, of immense power.

            The fact that Slash had left hadn't come as that big of a shock to Shawn.  All three of them had always known that Slash would leave eventually to receive training from a great swords master that his grandfather was friends with.  It was the fact that Hack had left too that caused him the greatest distress.

-Flashback-

            "What about Hack?" Shawn asked in a subdued voice.

            Thomas O'Reily's face took on a look of mingled regret and anger.  "His father found out Shawn."

            "Please tell me that you're talking about the stash of Playboys under his bed." Shawn moaned.

            "Fraid not kid; he walked in on Hack when he was getting back from one of his little 'adventures' on the net.  He was lucky that his computer was still on.  His father was stunned just long enough for him to grab some things and get out again.  He showed up at the dojo more scared than I've ever seen anyone before in my life."  He sighed.  "He took his shurikans, his kunais and his daggers, left some packages for you… and left again."

-End Flashback-

            Jon "Hack" Lutz was the third and final member of Shawn's small inner circle of friends.  A small, wiry kid, Hack was a genius with any type of electronics.  Shawn had met him when his father, a large beefy individual with an extreme prejudice against anything that didn't conform to his way of thinking, had signed him up for basic classes at the dojo, saying something about making a man out of his son.

            After a few days of training, Shawn had noticed that Jon always watched his uncle practicing with his Sais with something approaching reverence.  A few days later on his birthday, Shawn presented him with a pair of daggers that were shaped like kunais; the diamond shaped throwing knives used by ninjas.  The other boy was thrilled.   That day the seeds of a powerful friendship had been sown.

            After a few lessons, it was apparent that Hack had the makings of a master knife wielder, so Shawn's uncle began to include how to use kunais and shurikans in Hack's training.  Thus he earned his nickname from his style of in-fighting, hacking away at his opponents, not to mention his computer skills.  He had been the brains of their three man operation, digging up the data that Slash needed for his tactics.

            Shawn himself had been their front man and negotiator, talking his way out if he and the others got caught in the act of planting a prank, or making the arrangements if they needed some hard to come by supplies.  He had also been the one who selected most of the Triad's targets; he had a habit of singling out bullies and other potential targets for their pranks.

            During the course of their lessons, the three of them, Hack, Slash, and "Crush", nicknamed for his style of crushing his opponent, as well as the fact that his weapons of choice were designed to do just that, became a close knit triangle of friends, bonding over pranks and video games, and later arguing over which girl they thought was hotter.  Their ties of friendship had tightened even further the day that they had all discovered that they were mutants.

-Downstairs-

            "Aren't you worried about your nephew Mr. O'Reily?" Storm asked as she sipped from a cup of tea.  Shawn's uncle clutched a coffee mug in one hand and took a small sip.  He shook his head.

            "No.  I know how he'll work this out on his own.  He always tended to go through two stages to work through something."  He began to tick them off on his fingers.  "First he just sits and thinks back on things, then he finds a practice dummy or a bully, doesn't matter which, though I think he prefers to use bullies for the more extreme problems, and beats the tar outta them."  He took another sip of his coffee.  "After that, he's usually over whatever it is that was bothering him."

            "What exactly _is_ bothering Scales bub?" Logan asked menacingly.  "And while we're at it, why are you here in the first place?"

            "I have to admit, Mr. O'Reily, this _is_ quite a surprise," Beast said.

            Tom set down his mug.  "It's like this.  Two of Shawn's best friends left town and they gave me some things that they wanted him to have.  That's why I've got the trailer.  Plus there's the little fact that this kind if news isn't something that you tell someone over the phone."

            "Why did they have to leave?" Beast asked.  He had a glass of lemonade and was leaning forward in interest.  Most of the adults had gathered around the kitchen table in order to get the 411 on what exactly Tom was doing here.  The professor was the only one not there, having retired to his study to speak with the contractor about how fast the wall could be repaired.

            "Well… Slash, that's the nickname his friend Sebastian goes by, is training in the art of swordsmanship with a friend of his grandfather's.  But we all knew that he would be leaving soon."

            "And his other friend?" Storm asked curiously.  Tom just shook his head before he answered.

            "His father found out that he was a mutant."  Beast sprayed his lemonade over the table, soaking Wolverine in the process.  Luckily for him, Logan was in to much shock to really say anything.

            "And the reason you didn't tell us this **_IS_**?!" He roared.  (AN: So I lied.)

              Tom took a casual sip of his coffee, then looked Logan right in the eye.  "Number one, they wouldn't have come here, even if you had asked.  Both of them currently have excellent control of their powers and don't believe that they need help learning to control them as they evolve.  Number two, Slash had a prior commitment and I didn't see fit to break that up.  Third, even if I wanted to, I don't have a damn clue about how to get in contact with Hack."  The martial artist took another swig of coffee and prepared to launch into a full blown explanation, when a voice interrupted him.

            "Mr. Logan?  You said that you would take me driving today."  It was a slightly pissed looking Kitty.  Logan squirmed in his seat, looking desperately for a way out of this.  His eyes locked on Tom and a light bulb went off over his head.

            "Hey O'Reily; you up for a challenge?"

            Tom cocked an eyebrow.  "What type of challenge?"

            "Take Half Pint here out driving."

            Sirens and alarms were blaring in Tom's head, but he had learned long ago to ignore _those alarms.  They were the ones that usually sounded when he was presented with a situation that could either end up making him look like a fool, or give him the last laugh at whoever had set the situation up.  Now the ones that sounded when he was about to walk into mortal danger, those were another story altogether.  "Sure.  One condition though.  I drive her around first, just to get the lay of the land.  Then, she drives me back to the Institute."  He turned to Kitty and stuck out his hand.  "Sound okay to you?"_

            Kitty appeared to be thinking it over.  Storm and Beast were so interested in what they assumed was going to be the funniest thing of the year, that no one noticed Mozart standing near the doorway.  He seemed to be wearing a doggish grin.(No pun intended)  Suddenly, his eyes flashed a bright yellow color, before returning to their normal hue.  Kitty suddenly grinned and accepted the man's hand.

            "Sounds like a plan," She said.  Mozart made a sound that was suspiciously close to a snicker, then padded his way up the stairs.  He stopped at the top of the stairs, sniffed the air once, and headed towards the boys rooms.  He stopped in front of the closed door to the room that Shawn and Sam shared.  His eyes flashed again and the door opened.

            "Go away Sam," Shawn muttered from his position facing away from the door.

            "Sorry, but I'm not Sam, just your average Native American Sacred spirit," the coyote chuckled in a light bass voice, mischievousness accenting it heavily.  Shawn turned and stared at THE Coyote, the original trickster himself.

            "Are you outta your hairy little _mind_?!  What if someone _hears you?!" He half yelled in disbelief.  Apparently ancient Native American spirits talking to him wasn't that big a deal._

            "Nice to see you again too kid."  Mozart jumped up onto his bed and circled around a few times before lying down, making himself comfortable.  "Just wanted to let you know that this whole moping thing aint gonna help you.  Sure Hack and Slash are gone, but they'll be back.  Do you really think that Hack wouldn't leave you a way to contact him if the need ever arose?  All you need to do is drop him an e-line.  What the tournament ring is to you, the internet is to him.  And at least you know where Slash is."  He paused.  "But I digress.  I came up to tell you that I just pulled what I think could be the mother of all 'Just Desserts' pranks.  Come down to the drive if you want to see."  With that, the spirit got up, and left the same way he had came.

            Shawn stayed where he was for a moment, then followed after the canine.  If Mozart had taken the trouble to set up a prank using his powers, it was bound to be a lulu.

            He got to the drive just in time to see Kitty climb into the passenger side seat of his uncle's jeep.  He panicked a little, then remembered some of the horror stories that he had been told about her driving skills by Bobby, Jamie and Kurt.  He chuckled.  "It seems god has a sense of humor," he laughed.

            At the jeep, Kitty settled into her seat while Tom hoisted himself into the driver's side via the rollbar, ignoring the door.  He settled in and started up the engine.  Kitty expected them to get started right away, but instead he pushed a cd into the player.  Then he pulled a pair of mirrored sunglasses off of the dash.  He slipped them on, a wild light that looked slightly familiar to her coming into his eyes.  That's when the opening to "Bad to the Bone" started playing.  Kitty started to get a bad feeling.

            That's when she remembered where she had seen that same light.  In Shawn's eyes during his first DR session!  She opened her mouth to say that she had changed her mind, but it was too late.  Tom floored it, doing a burnout before the jeep shot forward.  Kitty looked towards the gate in horror.  It was only _half open!  The jeep wouldn't fit through!  She was in such a panic; she didn't even think to phase the jeep through.  "WAIT FOR THE GATE!  WAIT FOR THE __GATE!" she screamed._

            Tom didn't even flinch.  He casually jerked the wheel sharply to one side, the tires on the right side of the jeep hitting the curb of the drive.  The jeep was sent up on its two left wheels, passing through the half open gate easily.  Tom jerked the wheel back, and the jeep thudded back onto all four wheels as it sped down the road leading to town.  A few seconds later, sirens started up behind them.

-Bayville PD-

            The captain was leaning back in his chair, glad that the almost permanent piles of undone paperwork had mostly been cleared away for the moment.  One of Bayville's boys in blue chose this one moment of relaxation to stick his head through the door.  "Hey boss, we just got a call from cycle unit 17 that I think you should hear"

            "I'm on my break!" the captain snapped.  The officer nodded, but didn't leave.

            "Do you remember those horror stories that you told us about that one driver that was in your district before you got transferred here?"

            The captain paled.  "Fine, but this had better be worth interrupting my break," he growled, following the officer to the dispatch.  The dispatcher handed him a sheet of paper.

            "Just got a call from unit 17.  They're currently in pursuit, along with units 18 through 23," the dispatcher said.  The captain looked over the paper and paled once again when he read the license number and the vehicle description.  He grabbed the dispatch mike and started shouting into it.

            "Attention all units, this is the captain.  Do not, I repeat _DO NOT_ attempt to apprehend suspect. I've seen this guy before.  I repeat do not attempt to apprehend the driver of a brown jeep, license number," he rattled off the number.  "Trust me on this one; there is _nothing_ that can stop this guy."  That said, the captain went back to his office, lay back in his chair and breathed a heavy sigh.

            "If O'Reily is in town, then I think that we're gonna be in for a _loooong week," he sighed._

-Back at the Institute-

            Shawn had returned to his room.  He sat down on his bed for a moment, then sighed.  He had thought on his problem enough.  Can you say Danger Room?  I knew you could! Bahumut said in the back of his head.  Shawn nodded, then heaved himself off of the bed.  'Maybe some katas will clear my head,' he thought, heading to the lower levels.

            As he went, he passed by Maria's room.  The door was open, and being the guy he was, he looked in.  She and Rouge were the only ones there. She was sitting near the window, reading another book.  Rouge was sitting on her bed, staring into space.  She idly twirled a red rose in one hand, while in the other she held a playing card.  Shawn peered at it for a moment.  It was the Queen of Hearts.

            He shook his head as he continued on his way, leaving both girls to their respective trances.  So the Cajun went through with his little idea? Bahumut asked idly.  Apparently Shawn answered.  Both of them then fell into an easy silence, the kind shared between old friends.  After a moment, Shawn spoke up again.  

            Bahumut? he asked.  Yeah kid?  He's not going to stay caged forever, is he?  Bahumut sighed.  No kid, he's not.  I think that the only thing you can really do is prepare for that eventuality, and try to explain some of the finer points of the world to him when he _does _get out.  _Hopefully_, he'll listen to you.  After that, both of them fell again into the easy silence they had shared before.

-Back on the Road-

            Kitty clutched at the door handle for dear life.  The cops in pursuit had fallen behind about ten minutes ago.  But they were _still racing around at speeds that would make Quicksilver queasy.  She couldn't even tell where they were anymore.  As they took a particularly sharp turn, Kitty decided to make a run for it.  She jumped, phasing through the door as she did so.  She phased through a tree that was growing close to the curb, and landed heavily on the ground.  She paused a second when the 'ground' grunted as she landed and swayed a bit.  'Since when does the ground grunt and sway?'  Then she noticed that the 'ground' was far softer than it should be.  A wry, slightly out of breath, voice cut through her reverie._

            "Not that I'm complaining, but could you get please get off of my chest?"  Kitty's head jerked up, her face completely crimson.  Her gaze locked with that of Lance, whose humorous expression quickly turned to disbelief, then to alarm.  "**_KITTY_?" he gasped.  Kitty gulped.**

            "Um, hi Lance," she squeaked in a tiny voice.  Suddenly, both of them seemed to realize the exact position they were in.  Kitty was lying fully on Lance, who was lying in a large hammock, her face level with his chest.  Almost unthinkingly, Lance had wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders when Kitty had landed on him.  He quickly unwrapped his arm, and both of them scrambled to get out of the hammock.  Of course, being the nature of hammocks, it decided to just flip them both out onto the ground.  Kitty landed first, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing herself for when Lance dropped on her.  She waited a moment, but the impact didn't come.  She cracked open one of her eyes.

            Lance had landed face down.  But he had splayed out his legs and straightened out his arms so that he didn't crush Kitty.  His face was beet red however.  He blushed even darker as he got up off of her.  "Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a hand.  He used the other to pull Kitty to her feet.

            Kitty shook her head.  "It's my fault," she said, her blush still in full force, "I should have, like, watched where I was jumping."  Lance looked at her for a minute.

            "Jumping?"

            "Shawn's uncle was, like, giving me a driving lesson.  Let's just say that I understand why he walked to the Institute now," she laughed.  Lance chuckled too.  After a moment they settled into an uneasy silence.  "So…where is everyone else?" Kitty asked, looking around for emphasis.

            "Blob's on another grocery run, Quickie's still out cold and Toad asked Wanda if she'd like to eat lunch with him," Lance said, also avoiding looking Kitty in the eye.

            "Wait a minute," Kitty held up one of her hands, "_Toad_ asked _Wanda_ out to lunch?  And she _accepted_?!"  Lance nodded, a grin forming on his face.  "How did he manage to do that without getting hexed?"

            "Shawn gave the dude a little advice a while ago.  It seems to have worked.  Plus he scored the money off of me.  I kinda bet him twenty that he couldn't get her to say yes."  He made a wry face.  "I was wrong."  The two of them sat down on the porch and continued to talk for a few more minutes, unconsciously slipping back into old habits.  'Man, it's good to talk to her again' Lance thought, watching Kitty laugh as he described Pietro and Shawn's first meeting.  She looked down at her hands then, her mood changing suddenly.

            "Hey Lance?" she asked, her voice hesitant.

            "Yeah?" he replied, faint concern tinting his voice.  'What did I do to make her sad?' he thought.

            "You remember that stuff I said…that night?" the sadness in her voice had tripled.  Lance nodded slowly.  "I just…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry.  I was mad at you and after thinking about it for a while; I realized that I didn't mean most of the stuff that I said to you."  You could hear the misery in her voice, it was almost palpable.

            Lance gently cupped her chin with one hand, bringing her eyes up to meet his.  "You know what?" he asked.  She shook her head.  "I'm sorry too.  You were right; I was acting like a hood."  Kitty tried to look away, but his gaze held hers.  "But you know what else? I've tried to change a little and while I did, I did a little thinking of my own.  And I think that we could start over.  But first we need to become friends again.  I think that we concentrated so much on being boyfriend and girlfriend… we forgot to just be friends.  So… if we're friends again, maybe we could have what we had before, but better."  He gently let her chin go, and held out his hand.  "What do you say?  Friends?"

            Kitty gave him a watery smile as she took his hand in her own.  "I'd like that," she beamed.  Then she pulled him into a tight hug.  Lance was stunned for a moment, then returned the hug.  A screech of brakes at the curb brought the two back to the real world.  Tom walked up, as the two separated hastily, scratching his head under his hat.

            "I'm really sorry Kitty; I didn't notice that you were gone until I realized that the screaming had stopped a couple of blocks ago."  He stopped and looked at Lance, recognition dawning.  "Hey you're that polite kid from earlier!" he said.  He snapped his fingers and scrunched his forehead up.  "Um…Lance, right?" he said.  Lance nodded.  Tom looked from Kitty to Lance, then back to Kitty.  "You two…involved?" he asked.  Lace and Kitty shook their heads.

            "We're just friends," they chorused.  They looked at each other, then burst out laughing.  They had taken a step that day, a very large and important step, towards regaining what they had once had.

            "I believe it's your turn to drive Kitty," Tom said, motioning to the jeep.  Kitty waved to Lance as they sped off, Tom's "WAHOOOO!!!" echoing behind them.

-At the Institute-

            Logan finished washing his hands in the kitchen, wiping them dry on a towel.  He grinned as his acute hearing picked up the sound of screeching brakes.  But his jaw dropped as Tom sauntered in, completely unruffled.  "How'd the lesson go?" he asked, struggling to hide his astonishment.  Tom shrugged.

            "Phasing through the gate was…an interesting experience," he said.  He grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit on the counter, then headed towards the rec room.  Logan heard him exclaim, "Hey is that Super Smash Bros. Melee?"  Bobby's voice carried back to Logan, confirming that it was.  "Can I play?"  Wolverine sighed.  'How could a pit fighting legend be so childish?' he asked himself.

            Kitty walked in then.  "Hey Half Pint, how was the lesson?"  She shrugged.

            "It was…interesting."  She grabbed a banana from the bowl, then also headed towards the rec room.  Logan just stared after her.  He shook his head in disbelief, then grabbed an orange from the bowl, leaned against the counter, and began to peel it.

            In the rec room, Shawn looked up from the match between his uncle and Bobby.  It looked like his uncle was getting his ass handed to him, but he liked to turn things around on his opponent, so he wasn't to concerned, and looked at Kitty.  "I see you survived," he quipped.  Kitty shot him a glare, then headed up towards her room.  Shawn looked at Mozart, who was lying on the rug, busily shredding of Scott's second most favorite pair of shoes.  "Was it something I said?" he asked innocently.  Mozart chuckled quietly, still intent on reducing said shoes to nothing more than a pile of shredded leather and rubber.  The look on Scott's face would be priceless, especially coupled with when he found the little, 'gifts', Mozart had left in his favorite pair of treads.

-To Be Continued-

There's the Lancitty that I promised.  It may not be the best in the world, but I tried my best.  And you'll find out more about Hack and Slash's powers later on in the fic.  Next chapter, Thanatos makes his first move against Shawn, while dangers gather in the shadows around Maria.  This is Metal Dragon1 saying, until next time, Read & Review!


	13. Hey Can’t Win Em All, Right?

Take the Long Way Home

            Well, chapter 13.  And I think its going to be pretty _unlucky_ for Shawn and Maria.  *Shawn storms in waving my manuscript containing ideas for future chapters*  "_What the **HELL **are you **thinking?!**_"  Something wrong?  "You bet your ass!  I just read one of the ideas you had for an upcoming chapter and…"  Draco, if you would be so kind?  "**_THWACK!_" Shawn slumps down as Draco slings his quarterstaff, now complete with a Shawn head shaped dent, back over his shoulder.  Thank you.  *Draco nods* "Actually, I've been wanting to do that since I met the guy."  *He eyes the new shape his staff is in* "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find a blacksmith."**

Ally- trust me, you'll find out what happened soon enough.

marie lebeau- HEY! *peers out of the computer screen* you still with me here?  You _were one of my favorite reviewers ya know!_

L1701E- I'm crankin' em out as fast as I can man!

Chapter 13- Hey; Can't Win Em All, Right?

Disclaimer-All X-Men and related characters are NOT mine!  But if Marvel is willing to sell the copyrights for a couple of old baseball cards and some loose change…

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.

            Shawn wiped his forehead off as he and his uncle unloaded the trailer Tom had brought with him.  "I still can't believe that Hack grabbed his drum set on his way out!" he said as he hoisted the main drum onto his shoulder.  Tom shrugged.

            "You know as well as I do how he did it.  And I think the shock his dad got from seeing him doing it gave him enough time to get away before his dad reacted."  He grabbed one of the smaller drums and their stands and followed Shawn into the mansion.

-Bayville Third National Bank-

            "I still don't see why I had to come with you to the bank mom," Amanda Sefton scowled.  Margali Sefton just ignored her daughter as she filled out the checking form.  Both looked up though, when a sudden commotion sounded at the doors.  A figure, enshrouded in a black cloak and holding a black walking staff, had just entered the bank.  The security guard intercepted him, blocking his way with one arm.

            "Okay buddy, I th-UGHHH!"  The guard's condescending tone was cut off as the figure expertly whipped the butt of his staff into his stomach.  The man stepped over the prostrate form, knocking the guard out with a negligent flick of the end of his staff to the other man's head.

            "Fool, taking on a mutant of my caliber without even drawing your weapon," he remarked.  He turned and regarded the bank with flashing green eyes.  Amanda and her mother were the only patrons, with two female tellers behind the counter.  The man held out his staff and pointed to the tellers.  "If you have not already tripped the alarm, would you please do so now?" he asked in a calm, almost friendly voice.  The women nodded slowly, indicating the alarm had already been tripped.  "Very good.  Now would the four of you please get down on the floor behind the counter?" he continued in the same voice.  As he spoke, a silver glow began at his hand and worked its way up the staff.  When it reached the end, it extended into a long, curved, cruel looking blade of shimmering silver energy.

            "Aren't you robbing the bank?" Amanda asked in a puzzled voice, still not comprehending the seriousness of the situation.  The figure shook his head sadly.

            "Little girl, this is about something far more precious than money.  This is about _vengeance!" he hissed.  Outside, sirens began to wail._

-At the Institute-

            "Well, that's the last of it," Tom said, closing the doors on the trailer.  He and Shawn had unloaded Hack's drums and also the bass and guitar that had belonged to Slash.  The only other thing that his friends had left Shawn was a computer program CD from Hack.  It was red and had the words "Only to be used in an extreme emergency requiring the skills of the Triad" printed on it.

            "Are you _sure that they said to find good homes for them?" Shawn asked his uncle, referring to the instruments.  Tom nodded as they headed in to get some water.  Mozart, who had been hiding under the trailer to avoid Scott, trailed after them, looking nervously over his shoulder for the spectacled mutant.  Scott hadn't figured out exactly _who_ had put the rotten eggs and dead mice in his favorite pair of shoes (AN: you probably thought it was something else didn't you?  C'mon people, this is the original trickster here, would he leave evidence that he committed the crime?), but he __did know who had shredded his second, third __and fourth favorite pairs of shoes and had promised terrible vengeance.  Thus, Mozart was just a __tad jumpy._

            After the two of them got their drinks, Tom wandered off to flirt with Storm and annoy Logan, basically the same thing, and Shawn plopped down on the couch, Mozart lying down near his feet.  School had let out for summer a few days ago, so the other students at the Institute were currently engaged in different activities.

            Maria was lounging in one of the armchairs, nose buried deep into another fantasy novel.  Kitty was lying in another chair, writing in her diary.  The rest of the students were scattered throughout the Institute.  Shawn grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV.  He began to channel surf at a pace that would have made Pietro jealous.  A flash of some interest caught his eye and he backtracked to the channel in question.  It was a live newscast showing Bayville Third National, surrounded by police cars.  A swat van was visible in the background.  On screen, a pretty reporter began her dialogue.

            "This is Trish Tilby, reporting live from downtown.  An unknown mutant has taken four people hostage for unknown reasons inside this…"  Trish turned around as one of the bank doors opened.  "Wait a moment; it appears that the mutant is going to make his demands.  He's using one of the captives as a human shield!"  The camera panned in to show a frightened Amanda clutched in front of a robed and hooded figure.  A blade of energy extended from the sleeve of the figures cloak, poised over his captive's neck.

            "Alright, keep those guns down or I put this child to sleep permanently," he called out in a voice that shocked Shawn to his core.  It _can't _be _him! he thought to Bahumut.  It sure looks like it kid the other presence 'said' back.  But he's _DEAD_!!! Shawn thought in panic.  He looked back at the screen as the figure began to speak again; not noticing that Kitty and Maria had noticed what was going on and were staring intently at the screen.  "I only have one demand.  Meet it and you get your precious hostages.  Fail to meet it within the time I set; and I send out a body, starting with this one!" the figure called, pressing his blade tighter against Amanda's throat.  "I want the boy known as Shawn O'Reily to face me.  We have unfinished business to attend to.  That is the only demand I will make.  You have one hour to comply."  With that, he backed slowly into the building.  The camera panned in for another close-up._

            "Who is that?  Is that _Amanda!?" Kitty shrieked.  Maria looked at Shawn._

            "You know him."  It wasn't a question.  Shawn nodded.

            "Adam Krupner," he said, getting up.  He looked at Kitty.  "Kitty, go get Kurt and come with me.  Maria, you stay here."  That _really_ pissed Maria off.  His tone left no room for argument, but Kitty argued anyway.  Maria on the other hand, stalked away, muttering under her breath about not giving a damn if the girl got sliced six ways to Sunday.

            "Why don't I like, get the Professor? He…"  Shawn cut Kitty off.

            "It's my fault she's in this mess, I'll get her out.  I need you and Kurt to get the hostages out while I hand Krupner's ass to him on a silver platter."  With that, he stalked out the door, Mozart at his heels.  As soon as they were out of earshot, Shawn spoke to Mozart.  "I want you to stay out of this too." He said sternly.  Mozart shook his head.

            "I make no promises kid.  If you get in too deep, the Coyote is gonna pull ya out, even if you're kickin' and screamin' the whole time."  Shawn nodded as they went up the steps to his room.  He grabbed his staff and stepped out onto the balcony.

            "Fair 'nough," he grunted, growing out his wings and tail.  He took off into the sky, his mind churning like his stomach after eating one of Kitty's pizza rolls.  Mozart took a flying leap off the balcony, landed and broke into a loping run, following Shawn's flight path.  When he reached the wall, he simply seemed to go transparent, ghosting through any obstacle in his way.

-Back at the Institute-

"AMANDA"S _VHAT!?" Kurt's shout echoed throughout the entire mansion.  Kitty rubbed at her ears for a second before she answered._

            "She's like, being held hostage by some weirdo who wants to like, kill Shawn, or something like that."

            "And what exactly is this weirdo's name?" Tom asked from behind them.  Kitty started in surprise.  But Maria, who had come running at the shout, answered for her.

            "Adam Krupner," she said.  Tom's face turned serious.

            "So the 'Angel of Death' wasn't dead after all," he mused.  He turned back to the kids.  "Kurt, teleport Kitty there and get those hostages out of the line of fire.  I've gotta go pull Shawn's ass outta the fire before he gets burned.  Maria, you're with me."  With that, he turned and sprinted towards the garage.  Kurt grabbed hold of Kitty, and the two of them disappeared in a puff of sulfurous smoke as Maria followed after the older martial artist.  As the smoke cleared, the rest of the X-Men arrived on the scene.

-At the Bank-

            Shawn landed in front of the bank, ignoring the police and reporters.  He turned and yelled to Krupner.  "C'mon out Krupner!  Your fight's with me!  Leave these people out of it!"  A silver arc of energy crashing through the plate glass was the only response he got.  He dodged out of the way, barely.  His opponent leapt through the window frame, landing in a pool of black robes.  He stood up then, scythe at the ready.

            "My name isn't Krupner anymore, _O'Reily_" the man spat.  "I am now truly the angel of death, Thanatos!"  He threw back his hood, giving the assembled people a good long look at his face.  The entire right portion of his face surrounding his eye was destroyed, muscle tissue and even bone showing through in some places.  "_This is what you did to me O'Reily!" he shrieked._

            Shawn shook his head.  "I wasn't the one who attempted to use a grenade to win the championship of the rookie tournament division.  You got what you deserved."  He readied his staff.  "And now we're apparently going have to repeat the experience.  Unless of course, you let the hostages go," he added.

            Thanatos laughed; the sound as harsh as a Russian winter.  "Do you take me for a fool?" he sneered, "Those four are my 'get out of jail free' pass.  I would be a true simpleton to hand them over."  He readied his scythe then.  "And now to finish what was began four years ago," he said.

            The two martial artists rushed at each other, weapons at the ready.  But to Shawn's surprise, Thanatos was much faster that even six years of intense training should have made him!  'How did he get so _fast?' he asked himself.  He went to dodge a swipe from the staff, but felt the blade clip his hair.  "I'll just take a little off the top," Thanatos cackled._

            Unknown to them, the fight was now being broadcast live on the local and even one national, news stations. 

            'I don't get it; he wasn't _nearly_ this strong when I faced him in the tournament!' Shawn thought to himself.  Think about it kid, he's probably been training his ass off in preparation for this, both physically _and with his powers.  _You_ on the other hand have been concentrating on improving your control of your powers.  You slacked off and now ya gotta pay the price Bahumut explained.  Shawn could only think of one answer.  I'm gonna get my ass handed to me, aren't I?  Oh yeah, big time_

            Shawn rose shakily back to his feet, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.  He attempted to form up a defensive position, but was kicked in the stomach, followed by a punch to the back of the head.  A final kick sent him flying through the empty window, and crashing _through_ the tellers counter.  He landed heavily against the wall near the hostages.  He shook his head to clear it, looking around as he did so.  "Urgh…Oh, hey Amanda," he gave a small wave to the girl, whose mother had grabbed on to her when he made his 'entrance'. Outside, there was the sound of several police cars exploding, Thanatos' cackle ringing out over it all.  "Ya know, for someone obsessed with killing me, he sure likes to spread the damage around," Shawn remarked to no one in particular.  Amanda's mother shot her a look.

            "Amanda, who is this and how does he know you?" she asked, her tone dangerous.

            "Umm…he's…he's…mumble mumble"

            "What was that?"

            "He's a friend of Kurt's" she said in a near whisper.

            "I thought I told you to stay away from that…that _freak_!" Her mother shouted.

            "Please ma'am, freak is such an _ugly_ word.  I prefer 'humans with a crackerjack surprise in their DNA'," Shawn quipped.  He made a move to get up, as Thanatos finally made his appearance via the window, but failed.  "Uh oh."  He tried once more, but his back was stuck to the wall, held there by the spikes that ran the length of his back.  "This will _not end well," He muttered_

            "That doesn't sound good."  One of the tellers whimpered.  Thanatos stopped his advance, a sadistic smirk plastered over his face.

            "I believe that I'll use _both _my blades to carve you like a turkey," He grinned.  He waved one hand so that his wrist was exposed.  There was some sort of band on his wrist, with a short rod of metal sticking up from it.  An identical silver glow began to emanate from both his hands.  The glow traveled the length of his staff and onto the band as well.  When he was through, he had two silver energy blades of equal length crossed in front of him.  "Let's cut to the chase, shall we?" he laughed manically.  Suddenly, Kitty emerged from a wall next to the tellers.  Kurt ported in at the same time, right next to Amanda and her mother.  Kitty took in the situation with a single glance.

            "Let's like, get out of here!" she cried.  She grabbed onto the two women and pulled them with her through the wall as brakes squealed outside.  Kurt attempted to grab hold of his girlfriend so he could port them out of harms way.  Her mother however, was not helping, attempting to keep herself and her daughter out of his reach.

            "Keep _away!" she shrieked.  Kurt pulled back, a look of hurt and misery crossing his fuzzy face._

            "_LADY,_ WOULD YOU_ _PUT A LID ON IT?!_" Shawn yelled.  He took a deep breath as Margali stared at him in shock.  Even Thanatos had stopped at the force behind his voice.  "Listen, I don't know what you have against Kurt, but have you ever considered the fact that maybe, just __maybe, he truly loves your daughter?  Trust me, I've seen the look he wears around her before, and the guy that was wearing it was one sick puppy, let me tell you."  Thanatos interrupted at that point, swinging his scythe blades experimentally._

            "This is all very nice, but it's time for you to…," Thanatos stopped and turned round as a snarl erupted from behind him.  He turned, blades at the ready, and clashed with Wildcat's claws. "Fiery little thing, aren't you?" he said, blocking each blow with the practiced ease that marked the true martial artist.  She grinned.

            "I was just the distraction.  Your real opponent is right there," she said, gesturing with her head behind him.  While she distracted the psycho, Kurt grabbed Amanda and her mother by the hands and 'ported them out of there.  Shawn was still stuck in the wall though.  Thanatos looked in the direction she indicated as he kicked her away from him.  She landed next to Shawn.

            There was Tom O'Reily, standing in the shattered window frame.  He had on his mirrored sunglasses, his headphones, and had his Sais at the ready.  He also wore a clone of the smirk Shawn sported on occasion.  "You've called down the thun-_dah_, now prepare to reap the whirlwind," he called out as a challenge.  Thanatos looked at him like he had just asked him to play dress-up and come to a tea party.  Shawn just palmed his face.

            "Does your uncle take _anything_ seriously?" Maria asked in a conversational tone.

            "Training and women, and sometimes I'm not even sure about the women," Shawn sighed.  "I _heard_ that!"  "I just wish I could unstick myself from this damn wall!"  Maria looked at him for a moment.

            "Have you tried changing back to your human form?" she asked as if it were the most obvious ting in the world.  Shawn looked at her for a moment, flushing with embarrassment while Bahumut cracked up in his head.

-At the Institute-

            Wolverine shook his head as he watched the newscast.  "Doesn't he take _anything_ seriously?" he asked no one in particular.  Storm and Beast chose this moment to wander through.

            "Logan, have you seen Mr. O'Reily?" Storm asked.  Logan wordlessly gestured to the TV.  Storm looked at the screen for a moment, looked at Wolverine in confusion, and then did a double-take.  "Is that…?"  Logan nodded.  "Beast, alert the professor, we have a situation downtown."  Logan held up a hand as the other instructors began to leave the room.

            "Hold on a minute 'Roro, it looks to me that O'Reily has things under control.  Let's just let him handle it."  Beast looked at him for a moment, then laid a hand on Logan's forehead.  "He doesn't seem to have a fever," the blue scientist announced.  "Hank," the feral mutant growled, "You had better have a **_damn_ good reason for doing that."**

            "As long as I've known you, you've never passed up a fight.  Why start now?"

            Logan leaned back in his chair.  "It's my day off," he said, then turned his attention back to the screen.

-Back at the Bank-

            Blades flashed as "The Wiley O'Reily" and "The Angel of Death" clashed.  They struggled against each other for a moment, each seeking to overpower the other, and then separated.  Tom reached down with a hand and hit play on his cd player.  Shawn palmed his face in embarrassment as fast-paced fiddle music started.  "My nephew likes rock n' roll, but I prefer country m'self," Tom grinned.  Then he began to sing with the music, his voice blending seamlessly with the song.

            "The Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal.   
He was in a bind, 'cause he was way behind, he was willing to make a deal.   
When he came across this young boy sawing on a fiddle and playing it hot.   
Well the Devil jumped up on a hickory stump, said, "Boy let me tell you what.   
I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player too,   
Now if you care to make a dare, well I'll make a bet with you.   
Now you play pretty good fiddle boy, but give the Devil his due,   
I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul 'cause I think I'm better than you.""  As he sang, he matched Thanatos blow for blow, move for move.  All the while, Tom kept singing  
  
            "The boy said, "My name's Jonny and it might be a sin,   
But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret, 'cause I'm the best there's ever been."  
Jonny rosin up you bow and play your fiddle hard.   
'cause hell's broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards.   
And if you win you'll get this shiny fiddle made of gold,   
But if you loose the Devil gets your soul. Hey!"   
  
            "So the Devil opened up his case, said, "I guess I'll start this show."   
And fire flew from his finger tips as he rosined up his bow.   
When he drew that bow across the strings, it made an evil hiss.   
Then a band of demons joined in, it sounded something like this."  As the fiddle and bass played, Tom was being slowly driven back by Thanatos.  Maria made a move to help him, but Shawn held her back.  He shook his head when she shot a look at him.

            "He's toying with him," he said in a low voice.  As he spoke, Tom's retreat began to slow.  Once again he began to sing.  
  
            "As the Devil finished, Jonny said, "Well you're pretty good old son.   
Sit down in that chair out there, let me show you how it's done."" Tom sang, speeding up his attack.  
  
            "He played Fire on the Mountain, run, boys, run.   
The Devil's in the house with the rising sun,   
Chicken in the breadpan picking out dough,   
Granny does your dog bite, "No, child, no.""   Thanatos was the one on the retreat now, sweat beginning to bead on his cloaked forehead.  He hissed as one of Tom's whirling blades found flesh beneath the concealing volume of his cloak.  
  
"So the Devil bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat.   
He laid that golden fiddle on the ground at Jonny's feet.   
And Jonny said, "Devil, just come on back if you ever want to try again,   
'cause I've told you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best there's ever been.""  Thanatos pulled back as Tom's other blade scored on his other side.  
  
"He played Fire on the Mountain, run, boys, run.   
The Devil's in the house with the rising sun,   
Chicken in the breadpan picking out dough   
Granny does your dog bite, "No, child, no.""

            As the song came to an end, Tom pushed Thanatos' blades out of the way and dropped his own blades.  'Time to finish this with a _bang' he thought, seeing his opponents eyes widen, then narrow in thought at the new development.  Maria made another move to go to the martial artist's aide.  Once again Shawn held her back.  "He's got it under control," he said.  'I just hope he's not gonna use __that move!"_

            **_"TIGER CLAWWWW!!!!!!!_**" Tom screamed, splaying out his hands in a claw shape.  Shawn palmed his face.  Why did I let him watch that movie! He groaned to Bahumut.  Don't ask me, _you_ were the one who rented it the mental presence replied.  While the two of them conversed, Tom lunged forward, moving his hands in an exaggerated motion.  Suddenly, he lunged upward with his knee.  *_CRUNCH*_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_"  All over Bayville, men suddenly winced and crossed their legs.  Outside, all of the cops winced in sympathy.  A few of them retched.

            "NOW _THAT"S WHAT I'M __TALKIN' ABOUT!" Tom crowed over the fallen form.  Thanatos staggered to his feet and out the empty window.  Before the police could react, the back of his cloak erupted into a pair of ebony feathered wings.  He took off into the afternoon sky, wavering from side to side as he went._

            "Glad that's over," Shawn said, dusting himself off.  He had reverted to his human form.  He looked out the window, where Kurt was attempting to talk to Amanda's mother.  Kitty seemed to be getting on good with the two tellers she had phased through the wall.  Neither of them looked as wild around the eyes as he had expected them to be.

            He made a move to pass his uncle, but he clamped a hand onto his nephew's shoulder.  Tom looked at Maria.  "Excuse us for a moment, my nephew and I need to discuss his training, or lack thereof," he said, his voice turning slightly frosty.  Across the street, Mozart winced as Shawn started getting chewed out by his Sensei.

            "Damn, glad I'm not him," he muttered, wincing once again as Tom started in once again after taking a breath.

-Location: Unknown-

            "Ah, so glad that you answered our little ad," a female voice spoke in the darkness to a huge hulking figure.

            "Whaddaya want me to do exactly?" the figure asked in a gravelly voice.  A large domed helmet hung from one huge hand.

            "Merely for you to collect a certain item for us.  You will be handsomely paid, not to mention the enhancements your armor has already received," the female voice replied.  "All you need do for now is wait until this package comes out into the open where you will be able to retrieve it.  And even then, we have arranged for some backup, should you find yourself in a position where you could be overpowered."  The large figure grumbled at this last part.

            "The Juggernaut doesn't need any damn backup," the behemoth growled.

---To Be Continued---

Uh oh, looks like Maria is in a heap of trouble!  Next time on "Take The Long Way Home", the professor calls the team together to investigate a possible new recruit in Cleveland, Ohio.  What happens when the X-men meet Kid "Rock N' Roll" Razor?  Find out next time, but until then, Read & Review!


	14. Rock N’ Me

Take the Long Way Home

            Well, here's chapter fourteen. Ya know, I'm surprised that no one asked about the CD Hack gave to Shawn.  I hope…*Explosions sound inside my muse room* Excuse me. What the hell is going on in here!  *Shawn's body flies past, then slams into a wall* "You pitiful fools think you can take **_me_?! **_FINAL FLASH_**!!!" *Draco slams into the same wall, only a little crispier than Shawn* I see the others have met my new fight scene muse.  *Everyone stops, looks at me, then at the, spiky haired, five foot nothin' figure that's been kicking their butts* Guys, this is the new member of our little team, Prince Vegeta.  "You're kidding, right?" Maria asks from the other side of the room.  She appears to have attempted to slash Vegeta in half, her claws are all chipped.  'Fraid so; I noticed that my fight scenes just weren't doing the story justice, even with Draco's help, so I brought in a freelancer.  Didn't I tell you guys?  "No, no you did not," Shawn deadpanned.  Draco is looking around, a bemused expression on his face.  He looks at Shawn.  "Momma?"  "Don't look at me!  I aint cho mamma!"  He looks at me.  "Momma?"  Ohhhhh no!**

Animeluvr1- Glad to have you back!  There was a reason for the reference.  Think about it; if the Tetsaiga is Slash's family sword, what does that tell you about his ancestry?  And I'll see what I can do with Rick.  Who needs math anyway?

L1701E- Jubes will be there my friend, don't worry about that!  And about the superkick, I believe I've got something even _more_ painful in store for him.  Read on to find out what!

Naja-well…technically_ Tom saved his life.  And I think that Shawn __should be able to live with that._

marie lebeau- Okay, those are good excuses.  And I have two little words that are guaranteed to solve any disagreements with a sibling.  Cattle.  Prod.  Personally, I'm basing Tom partially on a friend of mine.  Only my friend is _at least twenty times more insane than Tom._

Alleycat588- I said _possible_ recruit.  And there _will be another poker game soon, in about three chapters.  One more thing…I'm not __moody!  (For those of you that don't get it, read her bio.)_

AzureDragoness- Trust me, you aint seen nothin' yet!  And please, don't say that where Maria can hear you.*Points to where Maria is chasing Shawn around with a rusty axe while Draco and Vegeta look on* "Popcorn?" Draco asks.  Don't mind if I do.

P.S.: This is only half of what I had originally intended to write.  But due to certain factors, I have decided to cut this extremely long chapter into two far shorter ones.  That is all.

Disclaimer: Vegeta walks onstage.  "Any fool who believes that this simpleton owns X-men: Evolution, stand up now so I may Final Flash you into oblivion! *Sounds of crickets chirping* "I thought so."  Vegeta walks offstage.

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case.

Chapter 14- Rock N' Me

            "When questioned as to why police officers did not attempt to apprehend the mutant, one of the officers on the scene commented 'We just didn't have the heart to arrest the poor basterd after what had just happened to him'.  The man responsible for defeating the mutant refused to comment, but has been identified as Tomas O'Reily, a respected martial artist who owns and operates a martial arts dojo in Pennsylvania."

            "In other news, computer experts are baffled by a mysterious new computer virus that has been dubbed the "Dot Hack" virus.  Different reports have come to light of this strange, seemingly untraceable virus destroying entire hard drives.  Other reports have it tightening security for different corporate mainframes.  And an unnamed government source has confirmed the rumor that several major cyber-criminals have been arrested thanks to tips sent through the virus.  One thing remains consistent though; whenever a computer becomes infected, a message comes up on-screen proclaiming "You've been hacked!" as soon as the virus has accomplished whatever it sets out to do.  In a related story…"  Tom O'Reily reached over and turned the television off.  He turned to his nephew, who was slumped in an armchair, exhausted.  Bobby was there too, looking curiously at the pair.

            "What exactly was the deal between you and that Thanatos guy?" he asked.  Shawn opened his mouth to answer, but Tom cut him off.

            "Thanatos was a mercenary that was working for an extremely dangerous man.  As you can probably guess, the Zanzoken could be a very powerful tool if placed in the wrong hands.  And since I have contacts with several bodyguard agencies _and_ with several, shall we say unscrupulous businessmen…"

            "You mean gangsters?" Jaime asked excitedly, popping out from behind the couch.

            "GAHH!  DON'T _DO THAT!" Tom shouted.  He thumped his chest as if to restart his heart.  "You nearly gave me a heart attack, kid.  And no, not really.  More Hell's Angels types, than anything.  And the specific people I'm talking about are a group of assassins that I helped with a problem.  When I first started my dojo, I let my friends on both sides of the law know that I wasn't going to teach my secret technique to anyone from either side.  Anyway, Thanatos' employer wanted the technique for his own purposes, so he hired Thanatos to get the secret of the technique from me."  He paused.  "The jackass decided that the best way to do that was to beat Shawn and hold him ransom.  It might have worked too, but Shawn turned out to be more than he could handle.  In the end, he tried to take Shawn out with a grenade.  But he mistimed his throw and it blew up in his face.  Blew a hole in the stadium floor too; dropped him into a lower level.  Everyone assumed that he was dead.  It was a sixty foot drop."_

            "He must have felt like I feel right now," Shawn groaned.

            "C'mon kid, that was only about three fourths of what you used to do!" Tom exclaimed, ruffling his student's hair.  Shawn shot him a dirty look.  He had just finished his new exercise regimen for the first time.  It mostly involved running on his hands around the backyard, with weights strapped to his wrists, ankles, biceps and thighs, while avoiding various punches, kicks and other attacks from his sensei.  He thought about saying something that was very, very, _very_ rude, but decided against it.  Is that even physically possible? Bahumut asked.  I don't know, but I think it might be if you applied the right amount of pressure to certain joints.

            X-men, please report to the War Room. the professors telepathic voice echoed through their heads.  Tom 'yiped' and spun around looking for the owner of the voice.  "He's a telepath uncle, _remember?" Shawn arched an eyebrow.  Tom rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly._

            "Oh yeah," he muttered.  Shawn led the way to the War Room, Mozart padding along behind him, meeting up with Maria and Jubilee on the way.  Bobby sidled up next to Jubilee, while Shawn acknowledged Maria with a nod, a tiny flush creeping up the back of his neck.  From behind him, Tom and Mozart shot each other a look, then nodded in unison.

            "Either of you know what's going on?" Shawn asked.  Jubilee shrugged, while Maria just grunted a negative.  When they reached the War Room, Logan was leaning against the doorframe.  They filed in, but when Tom tried to enter, Logan blocked his way.

            "X-men _only bub," he growled.  Tom held up his hands in a peace gesture and turned around to backtrack.  But while Logan was preoccupied with glaring at Tom's retreating back, Mozart slipped around him and settled in a shadowed corner, eyes alight with curiosity.  The rest of the students and the instructors ignored him, concentrating on the Professor.  Logan walked back in, and settled into a chair.  "So what's the big deal Chuck?"_

            "I believe that a new mutant has come to light in Cleveland."  The professor turned and looked at a screen behind him.  A picture flashed onto the screen, but before he could continue the briefing, Jubilee let out a long, drawn out squeal.

            "_Kiiiiiid Raaazooooor!!!!!!" she shrieked, going off like a fire siren.  Most of the people in the room covered their ears in pain, most noticeably all of the guys.  Even Mozart covered his ears with his paws and let out a little whimper.  While he clamped down on his ears, Shawn studied the picture.  It was of a young man, about his age.  Some people thought that his clothing choices looked somewhat strange, but this guy's clothes had him beat by a mile._

            The strange youth had on white tights with red-and- black razor blades all over them and "Rock 'n' Roll" on the back. He had on an Ozzy Osbourne shirt and jacket and wore boots that were red with black- and-white fringe as well as white kneepads. His fingerless gloves were white. Over them, he had Heart Break Kid-style wristcuffs with white fringe and a red- and-black razor blade on each one.  His face was painted in a manner similar to the Ultimate Warrior, mostly white with red-and-black streaks. To top it all off, he had on a pair of white sunglasses with heart-shaped frames and red-and-black lenses.  In his hands he carried a guitar with a blue-and-green planet-shaped body.  It was the guitar of the deceased rock 'n' roller legend, Ronnie Rocker's "Ringer" guitar, or a very good replica.

            Jubilee's shriek was cut off when Kitty clamped a hand over her mouth.  She looked at her friend for a minute, then said "I'm like, going to let go now.  Will you be quite?"  Jubilee nodded vigorously.  "Good."  Kitty let go and Jubilee sank back into her seat, a huge blush spreading across her face.  The professor looked at her for a moment.

            "May we proceed?" he asked; a slight smile on his face.  Jubilee nodded sheepishly.  "As I was saying, we have reason to believe that this "Kid Razor" is a mutant.  Even though Cerebro hasn't been able to pinpoint his location, this may just be a side effect from his powers."

            "And the reason for the big powwow is…?" Shawn asked, leaning back in his chair.  Maria nudged him discreetly with her elbow, and he sat back up.

            "The purpose of this little "powwow", as you put it Shawn; is to pick the right team to attempt to recruit him.  I believe that he may prove a valuable addition to the team.  And I need to put together another team to investigate a new mutant signature in Texas."  Jubilee immediately raised her hand and began to bounce up and down in her seat.  "No Jubilee, I think it might be best if you stayed here."  Scott and Jean stood up.

            "We'll go to Cleveland professor," Jean said.  He nodded.

            "Very well then.  Beast, you, Cannonball, and Wolfsbane will go with them.  Logan, you, Kitty and Rouge will check out a reading Cerebro picked up in Texas.    Logan, you three will leave immediately; the other five will leave in an hour.  Hank, I'm afraid that you'll have to take a holowatch.  People in Cleveland are more mutant tolerant than most, but better safe then sorry.  Meeting adjourned."  As everyone filed out again, Mozart turned transparent and ghosted through the wall.  He reemerged in the rec room.  Tom was sitting on one of the chairs, reading a comic book.

            "Well?" he asked, putting down the book.

            "What do you think the weather's like in Cleveland this time of year?"

            "Stow-away on the jet?"

            "You read my mind."

            "You have a mind to read?"

            "Very funny mister 'I still read comic books'."

            "I'll have you know that it's considered readable art."

            "Uh huh, sure it is.  Now get your butt in gear, we need to get stowed away within the next half hour."

--Elsewhere in the Mansion—

            "Hey Maria," Shawn called from behind her.  She turned and shot him a look.

            "What?"  He paused for a moment, then…

            "You ever seen the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame?"

            "No."

            "Me neither.  Ya wanna go see it?"

            "Where exactly is it?"

            "Cleveland.  And if we get caught, you can just say that I fast talked you into it."   As he said this Shawn shot her a look that said, "you up for the challenge?"  She folded her arms and looked away for a moment, then turned back, a small grin on her face.

            "Very well, but if we get caught, you take _all_ the blame."  Shawn nodded so vigorously that it looked like his head was going to fall off.  You realize that you probably look like an idiot right now, right? Bahumut asked in an innocent tone.  Whatever it takes my friend, whatever it takes Shawn sent back.  Awwwww, does widdle Shawny-wawny have a widdle crushy-wushy?  I don't know when, I don't know _how_, but mark my words, you _will_ receive retribution!  I'm shaking in my size fifteens kid  Shawn snapped out of his little trance and grabbed Maria by the wrist.

            "C'mon, we need to get primo hiding spots," he said excitedly, half dragging her behind him.  *Snickt* "Or…we could wait and go when you're ready," he added nervously, admiring the very good (and very sharp) points she had just made.

            The two of them eventually made their way to the hanger after about a half hour, and managed to find a compartment to hide in together.  When Maria had asked why they didn't each use a separate compartment, seeing as there were three total.  Shawn shot her a look.  "This way you can immediately blame me if we're caught."  Any excuse huh?  And what would you do in the exact same situation? Your point  

            About ten minutes after they had settled in, with Maria giving him graphic details of what would happen if he attempted anything in the least bit like hitting on her, Mozart and Tom made their appearance.  Tom was moving on silent feet, while Mozart's claws made absolutely no noise on the metal of the plane's floor.  Mozart sniffed silently at the compartment that hid Shawn and Maria, shook his head at Tom, and ghosted into the center compartment.  Tom held onto the spirit's tail as he turned transparent, going ghostly as well, and was pulled noiselessly through the cover hatch.

            As Tom vanished through the hatch, one other person made their way into the jet.  The currently unidentified person made their way to the last unoccupied hatch, opened it quietly, and silently climbed in, closing it after themselves.  Not ten minutes later, the Cleveland team boarded.  Two minutes after that, the X-jet was airborne.

-Location Unknown-

            "The package has left the Institute, current heading and speed put it in Cleveland in an hour," a technician made his report to a shrouded figure.  The figure's lips curved in a sinister smile as it dismissed the technician with a gesture.  The figure leaned over and spoke into a small intercom.

            "Tell our delivery boys that they are going to Cleveland.  They should arrive in time to set up an ambush.  And tell them that, if they fail, they will _not_ receive payment."  The figure, which was now identified as a woman due to her voice, sat back up, and linked her fingers.  "Soon we will regain our blueprint," she smiled to herself.

-Ten minutes outside Cleveland-

            Beast was toying with a small experiment he had decided to bring with him on the fight, so Scott was flying, with Jean as his co-pilot.  Sam had decided to play a little game to get his and, in his mind more importantly, Rahne's mind off of the monotonous flight.  "Ah spy with mah little eye something…white."  Rahne heaved a huge sigh.  It had been a little cute when it started, but now it was starting to annoy her.

            "Another cloud, lad?"

            "No, it's that piece of cloth sticking out from under the center cargo hatch."  Jean's head turned as she caught that little bit of information.

            "Check it out Rahne," she ordered. Rahne got up and shifted to her wolf form.  She cautiously padded over and sniffed at the cloth.  Then she took it in her teeth and gave it a hard yank!

            "WHOA!" Tom yelled, as he was pulled out of the hatch by his sleeve.  He had been forced to crouch down on all fours because of the cramped quarters of the cargo space.  Mozart looked up from where he had settled down to nap alongside Tom, and gave a small nod of acknowledgment to the lupimorph.  "Uhhh, hey guys, whassup?" Tom grinned from the floor.

            "Not you at the moment Tom," Beast quipped from the small foldout table he was using for his experiment.  A little laugh from the cargo hold closest to the cockpit had heads turning.  The laugh was followed by an "ow, what was that for?".  Tom got up and, backed up by Rahne and Sam, casually swung the hatch open.  Inside, Shawn and Maria were as far apart from each other as they could get in the small space.  Even so, she was nearly sitting in his lap.  Shawn was rubbing the back of his head, while Maria had a pissed expression on her face.  Tom kept his expression neutral as he spoke.  "I think we'll just leave you two kids alone."  He began to close the hatch.  * Snickt* "Jesus H. Christ, you got a worse temper than that wolf dude."  He paused and peered closely at her.  "You related to him?" he asked. Maria just sailed past him.

            "I swear she learned that from the princess." Shawn quipped. She turned and shot him a death glare.  Shawn held up his hands in a peace gesture.

            "Kidding, just kidding," he said nervously.  Maria turned around again with a "Hmmph!"  "She's crazy bout me," Shawn smirked.

            "Yeah, she was ahn(on) you like mud ahn a pig," Sam observed dryly.  Shawn airily waved the comment away.

            "Now, _what exactly possessed the three…" Beast was interrupted by what sounded suspiciously like a cough from Mozart, "Excuse me, the _four_ of you to stow away on board?"  Maria pointed at Shawn._

            "He fast-talked me into it," She declared.  Shawn shrugged nonchalantly.

            "I asked her if she'd ever seen the Rock N' Roll hall of fame.  She said no and I took it from there."  "Ah'm(I'm) impressed," Sam whistled  "With my abilities of persuasian?" Shawn asked eagerly.

            "No, with the fact that Maria didn't turn you into shish kabob within the first ten minutes," Sam laughed.  Maria smirked as she turned to face them.

            "I threatened to cut off his bits and pieces if he tried anything," she stated calmly.  Even Scott winced as she said it.  Beast ran a hand through his hair as he thought.

            "The question remains, what to do with you all?" he asked them.

            "Dr. McCoy, we've arrived in…WHAT WAS THAT!?!" Jean's announcement suddenly turned to a cry of alarm as a blonde blur covered in a rainbow energy field shot past the cockpit.  It suddenly stopped in midair and backtracked.  It was Kid Razor.  He appeared to look both Scott and Jean up and down for a moment.  Then he winked at Jean, and promptly showed Scott the birdie.  Then he was gone as fast as he had come.  Scott was stunned for a moment, then snapped into leader mode.

            "Jean, open a hatch!  Shawn, since you're here you might as well make yourself useful.  Tail him and see if you can keep him still long enough for us to catch up and talk to him."  Shawn mock saluted as the side door opened, then jumped headlong out into space, wings booming out to their fullest as they caught the air.  As he went, he could have _sworn_ that he heard Jubilee's voice calling for Razor to come back.  But he shook it off and continued to track the rainbow colored spark that was _just_ in his vision range.

            Suddenly he dipped downwards, towards a large bank that was surrounded by police cruisers.  An officer that looked like he could probably tie with Cyclops when it came to shoving a stick up his butt was barking commands through a megaphone to the crowd, which was going wild at the sight of the superstar superhero.  He landed at the fringes of the crowd and clasped his wings around his neck like a cape, effectively hiding his tail from view.  He approached one of the people at the edge of the crowd, a boy with green hair.  "What's going on?" he asked, tapping the other teen on the shoulder.  The boy turned around.

            "Tusk is trying to rob the bank."  He said in a matter-of-fact voice.  There was a sudden scream as the crowd scattered.  Several armed gunmen had streamed out of the buildings to either side of the bank and were shooting into the air.  Naturally, people fled, the green haired youth among them.  Even the cops were backing away, except for the one cop who looked to be an even bigger hard-ass than Scott.  Suddenly, one of the bank windows erupted as Kid Razor was thrown through it.  Several of the gunmen pointed their weapons at him as a large mutant walked through the doors of the bank.  He was large, nearly seven feet tall.  He appeared to be covered in brown fur, and had a mammoth shaped head, complete with trunk and tusks.  He was Arnold Torrence, the mutant known as Tusk.

            'Ya know, that is _distinctly_ unfair,' Shawn thought as he studied the situation from a safe vantage point.  Razor was outnumbered ten to one!  Suddenly, Jean's voice rang out in his head.

            Shawn?  Can you hear me? Loud and clear Red.  You better get here fast, I think this Razor guy's really stepped in it today. There was a pause while Jean conveyed his message to the others.  Then, We're on our way.  Oh, Jubilee stowed away too.  Shawn nodded, then realized that she couldn't see the gesture and replied.  Gotcha.  Razor's in trouble, I'm goin' in!  He ignored Jean's mental yell to stay put and spread his wings, seeming to shake as his scales emerged, and uncurling his tail from around his feet.  He leapt down into the fray with a karate yell.  Half a block away, his teammates could be seen running towards the scene.

            "_Bon Jovi Booster_!!!" Kid Razor yelled, plowing through two of the gunmen.  Tusk was sitting comfortably on a nearby bench, watching the fight.  "I can't believe I'm getting _paid_ to do this!" he chuckled to himself.  A yell from above caught his attention as a gray form descended.  "What the hell?"

            "Don't you know you could put an eye out with that thing?" Shawn quipped as he knocked the gun out of one of the men's hands.  He quickly spun around, tail-whipping the unfortunate goon into the dirt as he lashed out at another one of the gunmen with his fists.  He had left his walkman and his Bo at the Institute, not believing that he would need them.

            "Who're you?" Razor yelled over the gunfire, leaping around the trajectory of one bullet as he strummed his guitar and fired a beam of rainbow energy at another gunman.  He blasted him into a wall.

            "The cavalry," Shawn hollered back.  He spun around to find himself face to muzzle with an AK-47.  The gunman gave a vicious grin under his mask, before an explosion of what seemed to be fireworks snapped to life in his face.  He reared back, blinded, before crashing to the ground under the combined weight of Mozart and Wolfsbane.

            "This a private party, or did someone just forget my invitation!" Tom whooped, knocking another generic goon cold with a reverse punch.  Jubilee had an expression of fierce determination on her face as she hurled firework after firework at the different goons.  Wildcat sliced through one of the guns, then kicked the man in the gut.  Jean lifted the second to last bad guy into and sent him flying as Scott blasted the final ones gun away.  They paused for breath as Tusk began to yell and flail his arms.

            "_DAMN YOU KID RAZOR, WHY WON'T YOU JUST **DIE!?!?" he screamed.  He charged at the Juke Box Hero then, intent on making superhero shish kabob.  The Kid merely jumped over him, letting his momentum carry him into the bank.**_

            "Do you think we should help him?" Beast asked, pointing at the two.  Scott shook his head.

            "If this 'Tusk' fights as well as the Browns or Indians play, Kid Razor's as safe as possible."  Razor and Tusk screeched to a halt at that.  They looked at each other.

            "Shall we?" Tusk asked.  Razor nodded.

            "As long as no one finds out, I say we go for it."  With that, the two of them turned and began to advance on Scott.

            "Scott, I would run now if I were you," Tom warned.  Scott, who had his back to the fight, turned to see what the matter was.  Only to meet Tusk's fist.

            "_That was for dissing the Browns!"  Tusk yelled.  Razor strummed a riff on his guitar, energy building up on the end, before firing it at Scott._

            "And _THAT was for the Indians!" he grinned.  Shawn winced as the two descended on the team leader of the X-men._

            "Ooooooh, he aint pretty no more."  As the X-men tried to extract Scott from the wall he was embedded in, Razor confronted Tusk.

            "What do you think you're doing robbing a bank?  It's not your style.  And since when do you have help?  You've always been a solo act."  Tusk glared at his archenemy, before grinning maliciously.  He started to answer, when a trench-coated blur slammed into Razor.

            "IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou!!!" Jubilee chanted as she hugged the rock n' roll hero tightly.  Razor grimaced as he tried to get out of her grip.  It was no use; she was like a black haired leech.

            Tusk laughed at his enemy's discomfort, before deciding to answer the question.  "Since you're going to die anyhow, I suppose that it's only fair.  Some organization hired me and a few others to retrieve something for them.  In return, I get a nice big chunk of money and help killing you."  Razor, who had managed to get out of Jubilee's grip and was holding her off with one hand, looked around at the unconscious bodies laying around on the ground.

            "These idiots?  Even you can't be that stupid, you ice age reject!"  A sudden crashing cut off any more insults.  A huge man in a domed helmet crashed through a building on the group's left, while a shaggy haired man with claw-like fingernails in a trench coat leapt down from the building to their right.  Mozart snarled, hackles at full attention, at the larger man while Maria glared at the smaller one, claws at the ready. Tusk smirked.

            "No, I teamed up with winners.  Juggernaut and Sabretooth."

            Tom summed up their situation with one phrase.  "Houston, we have a problem."

-The Warehouse District-

            A lone man stalked through the abandoned warehouses, his red trench coat flapping in the breeze.  Cool green eyes scanned the area, as he fitted two gauntlets onto his hands.  Two pistols, one black, the other white, rode in holsters on his hips.  A large broadsword was strapped to his back.  The man also had long, white hair.  Suddenly, a shape leapt at him from the shadows.  The man calmly sidestepped, and raised one of his pistols.  He shot the shape straight between its blood red eyes.  Black ichor sprayed the wall behind the creature.  "I suppose the leader of this small clan should be around here somewhere," The stranger mused.  More creatures emerged from the shadows.  None of them showed any signs of having ever been human.  The man sighed.  "Why do they always insist on trying to fight?" he asked himself rhetorically.

---To Be Continued---

            And there's the first half of my first big fight.  See what happens when the team finds out exactly what the three villains are doing.  And Shawn will finally tap into his powers full potential.  And the mysterious new character will make another appearance.  He'll feature even more in coming chapters.  But until then, Read & Review!


	15. Awaken The Dragon

Take the Long Way Home

            Hello nice people!  I'm going to do some review replies, then jump right into the action.  *Shawn sticks his head in, puppy-dog eyes set on max beg* "What about us?!"  You all have fight-scene training with Vegeta.  *Vegeta's insane laughter is heard in the muse room* "We _will_ have words about this later, mark my-_URK!_"  Maria pulls him into the muse room by his collar.  "C'mon you big baby, how bad could it be?"  I better check up on them at the end of the fic.  Now onto the replies!

L1701E- Noooot exactly, but closer than you know.  Legendary Warrior, who gave me the idea, and I tweaked his background around a little.  Well actually, LW tweaked the background; I just found a way to fit him into the story.  And yes, those were Fingers and Polanski.  The other Cavaliers won't make an appearance though, sorry.

marie lebeau-You'll find out about the cd in due time my friend.  He did nothing!  Didn't you hear what Maria threatened him with if he tried anything?  Think about who seems to be fighting the creatures and you'll probably be able to figure out what they are.  L1701E has already figured out most of it.

Naja-well I've got more sayings were those came from, mostly ripped off of other people.  To find out about Kid Razor and Tusk, read L1701E's "Birth of a Juke Box Hero" and "The Power of Tusk".  And what's this?  So possessive all of a sudden.

AzureDragoness- What kind of a threat is _that_!

fluffy's numba 1 gal- Wrong on _both counts!  And I don't watch _that_ much anime.  I've only seen a couple of episodes of Inuyasha, but it was enough to give me a couple of ideas.  And I don't think that .hack//sign will make any contributions to the plot of this story._

P.S.: I've had an idea for a new story jumping around in the back of my mind for a while, but I'm not sure if I should go with it or not.  Tell me what you think.  It'd be a Harry Potter story, post OotP, and would feature Shawn, though slightly modified, as an adult American wizard that Dumbledore asks to come to Hogwarts to provide extra security along with some… rather special friends that Shawn has.  Your votes may decide whether this story sees the light of day.

Disclaimer: Say hello to my _liddle friend!_

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Chapter 15- Awaken the Dragon

            As the X-men and Kid Razor stared in shock at their three unexpected adversaries, Mozart slunk off into a shadowed alley.  "If I expect to help those kids against _those three, I'm gonna need to change my outfit."  The darkness of the alley seemed to deepen until, had someone peered into the blackness, all they would have seen were his glowing amber eyes.  A sudden wind seemed to kick up, bringing the scent of dust and sagebrush on it.  Mozart's eyes seemed to move upward, until they were about five feet from the ground.  "Much better," Mozart mused to himself as the shadows lightened to reveal his new form._

            He was short, nearly a full inch and a half shorter than Wolverine.  He had a mass of straight black hair, kept at bay with a headband.  He wore what appeared to be buckskin leggings and a vest that exposed the chiseled muscle underneath.  His nose appeared to have been broken, then reset, giving him a roguish air.  On his feet he had a pair of moccasins and in his hands he clutched two small tomahawks, while a belt encircling his waist held several small pouches.  Around his neck he wore a carved pendant of some sort of stone, carved into the shape of a coyote howling at the moon.  Sounds of crashing from around the bank had him breaking into a run towards the building, still going as fast as his previous form.  "Never fear the Coyote is here!" he crowed as he entered the fray. (AN: In his human form, Mozart calls himself Coyote.)

            "It's about _time_ you showed up," Tom yelled.

            "Traffic was murder; oh, and good to see you too."

            The crashing sound had been Tusk rushing at Razor.  "Isn't that a little stale by now husky-tusky?" the rock-star catcalled as he somersaulted out if the way.  He landed on top of a car and began to strum his guitar, energy gathering at its head.  Sabretooth, leaped up behind him however, slicing through the air towards the rocker.  Razor heard a distinct crackle of electricity as he dodged.  "Whoa!  This kitty seriously needs declawed!"  To the others he called, "Watch it, he's packing electric claws!"

            "Oh joy, one _more _thing to worry about," Coyote quipped, back flipping over another of Tusks charges.  The mammoth mutant slammed into one of the cars around the bank tusks first.  Rahne, who was behind the car, winced as his tusks easily tore through the engine block of the Dodge.  He grinned at her.

            "Hey puppy; lets find out what happens when titanium enhanced tusks meet a wolf with no armor whatsoever."  Then Cannonball slammed into him, knocking him away from the lupimorph.

            "Leave her **_alone_!!!" he roared.  He glanced over at Wolfsbane.  "Yah okay?" he asked.  She nodded and gave him the wolf's version of a shy smile.**

            Jean levitated into the air, lifting an abandoned car with her powers.  "Catch!" she yelled, throwing it towards Juggernaut.  He easily swatted it out of the air, reacting much faster than he had ever reacted before.  "How?" she gasped.

            "We all got little gifts from H.Y.D.R.A. in order to bag our prize, mine were enhancements to my armor that increased my reflexes," the unstoppable mutant grinned.  He hefted two cars, one in either hand, and flung them at Jean.  Maria tackled her out of the air before they could hit the telekinetic.

            "H.Y.D.R.A.?  Then that means…" Beast mused.  He was hanging back from the fight, taking care of Scott.  Tusk and Razor had put him through the wringer, and the teenaged leader was unconscious.  Jubilee was also hanging back, thinking that her powers weren't useful in a fight like this.  If she attempted to blind their opponents, she would blind her friends too.

            Tom and Coyote had decided to double team Sabretooth.  Tom had broken out his sais while Coyote distracted the feral mutant with his whirling blades and fancy footwork.  He chuckled as he heard Razor remark, "Man; insurance rates in this part of town are gonna go through the _roof!" as a large chunk of masonry was knocked out of the wall of one of the surrounding buildings._

            While the two of them worked on Sabretooth, Draco was doing his best to keep Juggernaut at bay with fireballs, blinding the huge mutant with the fire and smoke, but he was tiring rapidly.  "A little _help_ here?!" he yelled as he stopped to catch his breath.  Jubilee began to throw fireworks at Juggernaut's helmet, successfully blinding the behemoth.  But he began to pick up large objects off the ground and throw them in random directions.

            Coyote dodged in under a slash from Sabretooth, hacking at the undersides of the mutants palms.  The blades of his tomahawks sliced through the wires that supplied electricity to his claws.  The larger mutant snarled at the spirit, then felt someone tap him on the shoulder.  He turned around to see Tom.  "'Member me?" the martial artist waved.  Then he punched Sabretooth full across his jaw.  As he fell, Coyote pulled a handful of yellow powder out of one of his pouches.  He threw the stuff into the feral's face.  Sabretooth blinked for a moment, sneezed, and began to quiver.  He turned tail and ran from the scene, screaming as if all the demons of hell were on his tail.

            "Ya gotta love hallucinogens," the spirit smirked, carefully dusting off his hands

            "Come back here you coward!  They're only a couple of humans!" Tusk yelled.  Tom and Coyote shared a grin.

            "He don't know us vewy well; do he?" they chorused.

            While the two of them caught their breath, Cannonball bashed into Tusk, knocking him off balance.  Wolfsbane took this opportunity to latch onto the seat of his pants, and hung on with dogged persistence while the mammoth mutant danced around howling and screaming, as Razor set up for the final blow.  He shifted his grip on his guitar as he leapt into the air.  Rainbow colored energy gathered around it as he arced his body backwards.  Jubilee stopped throwing fireworks as her eyes glazed while she watched.  Wildcat stepped in front of her, and snapped her fingers in front of the girls face, attempting to snap her out of her hormone induced trance.  Nether seemed to notice that Juggernaut had regained his senses and was advancing on them.  Razor descended on Tusk as Wolfsbane let go.  She shifted back to her human form, making a disgusted face.  "**_YUCH!_  Tha lad needs a _bath!"_**

            "I could have told you that!  _Van** Halen HAMMER!!!**" Razor roared, bringing his guitar crashing down on Tusk's shaggy head.  The mammoth mutant never knew what hit him.  Razor hovered in midair, giving the rock on sign  "WHOOO BABY, WHO DA MAN? WHO DA MAN?  KID RAZOR DA MAN THAT'S WHO!"  A sudden shriek of fury cut his celebrating off abruptly.  Everyone turned, and Draco's expression turned to one of combined fury, and horror.  Juggernaut was standing over a petrified Jubilee, a yowling, wildly flailing Wildcat clutched in one massive fist, grinning maniacally._

            "Heh-heh, thanks to you X-morons, I got the package that I was sent to pick up.  I suppose letting the little Asian brat live should repay the debt."  He swiped at Jubilee with one meaty hand, sending her flying.  Razor used his incredible reflexes to leap through the air.

            "I got it, I got it!"  When he caught the girl, he was thrown back into a wall.  Coyote snickered.

            "He got it alright."

            As the team attempted to regroup, Juggernaut turned around, intent on making his escape.  Only to find Shawn blocking his way.  "Get out of my way ya little lizard!" Juggernaut snarled.  Shawn continued to stand there, head down with his hair obscuring his eyes.  
  
            "Shawn!  Get out of there!" Tom yelled.  Juggernaut raised a hand to smash the insignificant insect in front of him, but frowned as Maria's struggles increased tenfold.

            "Now that won't do," he said in the tone of a reproving parent.  He raised his other hand, and flicked the side of his captive's head with one huge finger.  Maria slumped over in his fist, out cold.  As the Juggernaut did this, Shawn raised his head to stare.  Nearly everyone recoiled from the sight that greeted them.  His eyes, which were usually a rusty brown color, were changing to the crimson of fresh blood.  Kid?  You aren't thinking what I think you're…Awwww hell, you're gonna let him out aren't you? Bahumut asked in a tone that said volumes. Just keep Jean outta my head, when we team up, I don't want her getting hurt Shawn growled back.

            To Juggernaut, he snarled, "Let her go and I'll only rip **ONE of your lungs out."  The helmeted mutant smirked.**

            "And if I refuse?"

            "_Then hold your stinking breath!!"_

            "What's with him?" Razor asked.  Jean raised her hands to her head, intent on picking out what was wrong with Shawn, besides the obvious, directly from his mind.  

She gasped suddenly.

            "I…I can't get into his mind!  There's some sort of block there that I can't penetrate.  It feels almost…alive!"  When he heard this, Tom threw a pleading look to Coyote.  The spirit nodded, which was followed by the yellow flashing of his eyes.  After a second his eyes widened almost comically at the realization of what Shawn was doing.

            "_HIT THE DECK!  ****__INCOMINGGG!!!!" he yelled, tackling Tom behind one of the few still standing cars.  Shawn's body began to give off a sort of silver aura as his eyes changed completely to crimson.  He raised his head, opened his mouth, and ripped loose a roar of such primal rage, Juggernaut's grip on Maria slackened.  It seemed to combine the howl of a wolf, the roar of a raging lion, and all the meanness of a pissed off male grizzly.  The silver aura increased until it covered all of Shawn's body.  Suddenly, a shockwave, emanating from Shawn's body, rippled through the air.  As it went, it crumpled the pavement around the boy like paper.  Razor put up his force field as it neared him, and the girl he still held in his arms.  Jean put up her own field around the X-men.  She seemed to strain as the wave battled against her mind.  In the end, her field held, but it exhausted her completely.  She crumpled to the pavement, her energy spent._

-Warehouse District-

            As the man cleaned his sword off on the decapitated body of one of the shadowy beings, his head whipped up, and he seemed to be looking towards the bank.  "Quite a bit of power coming from that direction" he mused in his monotone voice.  He took a flying leap onto the roof of one of the warehouses.  He then began to leap from rooftop to rooftop towards the bank.

-The Bank-

            In the meantime, Shawn's form had begun to shift and change within the glow.  Everyone heard the sounds of bones cracking and shifting; and the squishing sound of whole new groups of muscles being grown.  All the while, his form was getting bigger and _bigger_.  He suddenly stopped growing and glowing.  The aura began to dissipate, until there was only the vaguest glow outlining him, and Razor let loose an impressed whistle.  "There is a guy who has eaten a _lot_ of beef."

            Shawn was now about sixteen feet tall, with a wingspan that challenged that of a small, two passenger single engine airplane.  His neck had lengthened to about four feet long, with five inch central spikes running the length of his entire spine; the outlying spines had lengthened to three inches.  His head was completely transformed, nearly a foot and a half long, with a long, crocodilian snout, blunted at the end and packed to the brim with glistening, white, razor sharp fangs.  His nostrils were now perched high on the end of his armored snout, with a six inch nose spike between them.  His hair was gone entirely, with ridges of scales replacing his eyebrows.  He had two horns that lay flush with his skull curling over towards the front of his head, with the points curling skywards just above his eye ridges.  Behind him, his tail waved lashed the air, a full six feet in length.  His hands now matched the size of the Juggernaut's, with three inch claws tipping every one of his fingers.  Powerful legs rippled with muscles, while his feet had become three toed T-rex affairs, with one backwards claw at the back of his foot. His clothing had been completely destroyed by his transformation, but he didn't need to worry about modesty.  A growth of scales had become something akin to what was worn around the waist by medieval knights; keeping him decent.

            But the most frightening change however, was his eyes.  They were a little smaller than tennis balls, with vertical pupils and completely crimson, but this wasn't the scary part.  What scared the onlookers the most, with the exception of the fearless Kid Razor of course, was the pure undiluted hate pouring from them.  It seemed to be millions of years of hate, all being directed at Juggernaut.  For the first time since the emergence of his powers, the "Unstoppable Juggernaut" felt the first tiny trickle of fear.  "Fifty on the dragon dude!" Razor yelled.

            The strange man from the warehouse district, leapt to the roof of a building that provided him with the best view for the fight.  He took in the scene with a calm gaze as he spoke softly to himself.  "So…that is the source of the power.  It seems to be human energy though.  Strange; perhaps one of these 'mutants' that has caused such a disturbance in the human's small world."

            Draco locked gazes with Juggernaut and began to move forward purposefully.  The Juggernaut stood frozen, still a little stunned by this ferocious transformation.  The dragon reached forward with one clawed hand, and deftly removed Maria from the now slightly smaller mutant's grip.  He shifted her so she was being carried close to his chest, turned, stomped over towards Beast and laid the girl down gently next to Jean.  He tenderly brushed a couple of loose stands of hair away from her face with the tip of one claw, then straightened and turned to face the Juggernaut.  "_Tell me why I shouldn't end your miserable existence right here and now?_" he hissed.  His voice had become a strange duet of his normal voice, and the voice that had rang out in his head that day at the café.  His silver aura flared for a moment, then settled back to a low burn.

            The Juggernaut started out of his trance as he realized that this, this _child had just taken his meal ticket.  "Why you little…!"  He reared back, and planted a fist in Draco's chest.  The dragon staggered backwards, then righted himself. Then he planted a fist in the Juggernaut's chest.  The behemoth barely moved.  "HAH HAH HAH, is that all you got you overgrown lizard?  I'm gonna turn you into a set of luggage!"  He began to swing again, but Draco caught his fist, the impact sounding like a gunshot.  The Juggernaut's eyes widened, but narrowed as he swung his other fist.  Draco caught that one as well, again with the cracking impact.  He brought his face down level with the Juggernaut's helmet, opened his mouth, and let loose an avalanche of flames.  Juggernaut pulled out of the dragon's grip with a cry, bringing his hands up to shield his eyes._

            Back with the others, Rahne got to her feet determinedly.  "We have tah help him!" she cried, beginning her transformation.  Halfway through, though, Tom roughly grabbed her by the shoulder, shaking her roughly.

            "Don't try and be a hero!  Look at what you were gonna jump into the middle of!"  He pointed to where the two behemoths were trampling everything in sigh as they exchanged blows.  He turned back to the group.  "Go out there, and either Juggernaut'll flatten you, or Shawn'll probably end up deep frying you either by accident or design."  Beast frowned at the last part, looking up from were he was tending to Jubilee, Scott, Jean and Maria.

            "What do you mean by that Mr. O'Reily?"

            "The way Shawn's fighting, he's about as close to berserk as he's gonna get without actually _being_ berserk.  He might not notice that you're an ally and end up attacking you too.  And with the way he's fighting, he might not make it through this thing either.  If only there was a way to snap…him…"  Tom stopped, and glanced at Coyote.  "Music?"  Coyote shrugged.

            "Might work, but how do you propose to get him to listen to it?  I kinda left my forty foot high concert speakers in my other breeches."  Razor perked at the mention of music, and stuck his head into the discussing group.

            "What's this about music?  If its music you want, you're lookin' at the dude for the job."  He strummed his guitar for emphasis.  Coyote palmed his face.

            "Oy vey," he muttered.  He turned to the rocker.  "Shawn was trained to combine music with martial arts.  If we could get him to hear some music that he's used to fighting to, he'll _probably stand a better chance against Jugger-DUCK!"  The group ducked as a steel beam went flying over their heads.  Everyone except Scott that is.  The leader of the X-men had just gotten up, moaning and rubbing his head.  The steel beam missed him, but caused a limb from the tree it slammed into to crash onto his head.  He sank back to the pavement, a sick grin on his face._

            "Okay, let the Kid see if he's got this straight.  If he hears some music, he'll snap out of this berserker rage, and probably calm down enough to accept help?"  Razor peered at the walkman on Tom's belt.  "That got any classic rock on that thing?" he asked, pointing at the device.  Tom nodded uncertainly, unsure about what exactly the rock n' roll hero was planning.  Razor continued, "I can amplify music, but _only_ classic rock.  It won't work with heavy metal, rap or…" he shuddered, "_country_."  He said the word like a curse.  Coyote and Tom thought about what type of songs fit the description Razor had just described, the crashes of Shawn and Juggernaut grappling still in the background.  Coyote looked up as one of the buildings surrounding the area collapsed.  His eyes narrowed when a red-clad figure leapt from the collapsing building to the next building over.  But he shrugged it off, and turned back to the group.  He looked at Tom.

            "How about number seven on this one?" he asked.  He pulled out a blue cd from the cd case he had swiped from Tom's belt.  Tom glanced at it then nodded.  He popped the disk into the player, and handed it to Razor.  Razor set it down on the ground, and began to strum his guitar.  A beam of rainbow energy shot out of the head, and lanced down towards the player.  As it made contact, the very air around them began to pulse to the rapid beat of some huge, unseen drum.  Then Razor began to play his guitar along with the drum.  Beast's face brightened; he recognized this intro!  Then Razor opened his mouth and began to sing with the music.  As he sang, the unconscious members of the team began to stir, as if the music was reenergizing them.  All except for Scott, who seemed to scowl as he heard the song.

"I been working so hard

I'm punching my card

Eight hours, for what?

Oh, tell me what I got

I got this feeling

That time's just holding me down!

I'll hit the ceiling

Or else I'll tear up this town.

Tonight I gotta cut loose, footloose

Kick off your Sunday shoes

Please, Louise

Pull me offa my knees

Jack, get back

C'mon before we crack

Lose your blues

Everybody cut footloose."  In the fight against Juggernaut, Shawn seemed to perk up a bit.  Instead of taking the next punch that Juggernaut threw at him head on, he dodged to the side, attempting to trip up his opponent with his tail.  Inside his head, Shawn was speaking with another presence.

            Look, I released you on the condition that you wouldn't take over my body.  You agreed to this.  Are you going back on your word?  The other presence seemed to shift guiltily within the shared mindscape.

            _I apologize; I did not mean to take total control.  Let us work in tandem instead._

            Alright guys, it's nice that you've both decided to trust each other.  Now lets all show this guy that three minds are better than one! Bahumut cheered.

            _Smaug __does not understand_

            We'll talk later, right now it's time to kick some _ass! Shawn assured the other presence._

            "I think its working!  Keep going!" Coyote yelled over the music to Razor.  The rocker nodded, jumping headlong into the next verse.

"You're playing so cool

Obeying every rule

But way down in your heart

You're yearning, burning for some

Somebody to tell you

That life ain't passing you by…" Razor ripped out a fast, hard hitting solo on his guitar.  As he did, Shawn began to tailwhip Juggernaut, following it up with several swift kicks from his powerful hind legs.  Then he leaned back, using his tail as a prop like a kangaroo, and kicked the Juggernaut in the chest with both feet.  The behemoth went flying, landing among the bank rubble.  Shawn paused for a minute, trying to make sure that the behemoth was down, but alas, it wasn't to end so soon.  Juggernaut threw off the steel beams as if they were twigs, and rushed back to the fight, thirsty for blood.

"I'm trying to tell you

It will if you don't even try

You can fly if you'd only cut Loose, footloose

Kick off your Sunday shoes

Oowhee, Marie

Shake it, shake it for me

Whoa, Milo

C'mon, c'mon let's go

Lose your blues

Everybody cut footloose"

            Tom picked up the next line of the song.  "We got to turn it around!"

            Followed by Coyote, "And put your feet on the ground!"

            Even Shawn pitched in. "Now take a hold of your soul!"

            All four – Whooooooooa…

            Back to Razor – "I'm turning it 

Loose, FOOTLOOSE 

Kick off your Sunday shoes 

Please, Louise 

Pull me offa my knees 

Jack, get back 

C'mon before we crack 

Lose your blues 

Everybody cut footloose

Loose, FOOTLOOSE,

Please, Louise 

Pull me offa my knees 

Jack, get back 

C'mon before we crack 

Lose your blues

Kick off your Sunday shoes 

Please, Louise 

Pull me offa my knees 

Jack, get back 

C'mon before we crack

Lose your blues

Everybody cut, everybody cut,

Everybody cut, everybody cut,

Everybody cut, everybody cut,

EVERYBODY

Everybody cut FOOTLOOSE!"  As the song ended, Shawn managed to knock the Juggernaut into an entanglement of steel beams.  Maria had woken up by this point, and was staring in open awe at Shawn's new form.  'Is it hot in here or is it just him?' She asked herself.  Jean, who had recovered enough energy to sit up, shot her a wry look.

            Shawn turned and waved at the others.  "I was gone for a little while, but I'm back now," he called.  His voice still had that dual quality to it, but it was more Shawn's voice now than the other voice.  Razor immediately launched himself into the air, and began to fire beams of rainbow energy at the Juggernaut.  Shawn gestured to the others.  "Keep him busy, I've got an idea."  With that, he launched himself straight up into the air.

-On the Roof-

            The stranger's eyes narrowed for a moment, then he nodded once.  "Very smart, use the enemy's strength against him by using one of your own advantages."

-Back on the Ground-

            "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Razor called.  But Shawn had already disappeared into the clouds.  Razor shrugged and fired off another beam of energy.  "You heard the lizard, keep ugly busy."  Coyote looked from Tusk, to Juggernaut, and back again.  Then he looked at Tom, looking confused.

            "Which one?"  Tom laughed as he pulled a small marble sized orb off of his belt.  He gauged the distance between himself and his target, and waited until he had a clear shot.  He flung the orb at the Juggernaut, aiming for the broad expanse of his helmet.  The marble landed near the back of his neck, bursting and releasing a bluish goop that began to hiss and eat through the helmet latch it had landed on.

            Suddenly, everyone froze as a whistling sound made it self known.  They all looked up, even Juggernaut.  What they saw was a truly impressive sight.  Shawn was shooting downwards head first, like a great gray arrowhead, straight for the combatants.  The X-men scattered, but it was too late for Juggernaut.  Seconds before he hit, Shawn flipped midair and slammed both taloned feet onto the Juggernaut's massive shoulders.  The force of the hit, combined with his own prodigious weight drove the Juggernaut into the ground up to his thighs.

            "Get his helmet off and I'll take care of the rest!" Jean shouted.  The telepath had recovered enough energy that she felt up to using the mental attack that the professor had shown her after the last time they had faced the Juggernaut.

            "Got it!" Shawn called.  He turned and gripped the Juggernaut in a bear hug, struggling to keep his arms pinned.  He arced his neck, and hooked his horns into the eye holes on the helmet.  "Time to pop your top!" he grunted.  He began to straighten his neck, hearing the latches creak in protest.  The Juggernaut just laughed.

            "Do you _really think some punk with scales is enough to take down the unstoppable Juggernaut?"  Shawn kept going, but Razor answered for him._

            "Maybe not alone, but with the Kid of Rock on his side, he's definitely not gonna lose.  SUPERSTAR SUPERKICK!"  Razor raced towards the two, and leapt into the air.  Rainbow colored energy gathered around his foot as he landed on one of the helmet buckles.  It shattered under the assault of energy.  Coyote leapt into action as well, his stone blades a blur as he hacked away at another buckle.  It finally gave, snapping under the strain.  With a final roar, Draco ripped the helmet away from the Juggernaut's head.  Jean immediately clenched her teeth and sent a massive wave of mental energy through the Juggernaut's head.  The behemoth struggled for a moment, then slumped in Shawn's arms.  Razor looked curiously at the mutant that had caused them so much trouble.

            "Damn his head is small," he cracked.  Shawn flashed a toothy smile at the rocker.  "Don't do that man, please."  Shawn turned the smile into a tight-lipped grin.  Beast walked up to his student, looking him up and down.

            "Amazing!  I must run an analysis on you when we return to the Institute.  And I'm sure the Professor will be even more amazed at this form than I am."  Tom tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed.

            "He may already know.  There are at least three news crews that have been covering the entire fight!"  Indeed, there were two local news crews, and one national crew as well.  Razor looked, then ran a hand through his hair.

            "If you guys will excuse me, my public awaits."  He back flipped into the air, and flew towards the crews.  Hank sighed as they watched him go.

            "I suppose it's better for all of us if he stays where he's most needed."  He looked at Shawn, who was helping a shaky Maria to her feet.  Sam and Rahne were trying to keep a starry-eyed Jubilee away from Razor.

            "You alright?" Shawn asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice.  Smaug's addition to his speaking voice was completely gone now, as was his aura.  She nodded, touched by his gentle concern.  He smiled.  "Good, I take a little nappy now."  With that he slumped facedown onto the ground.  His form seemed to shift in and out of existence, before becoming his human form.

            His _nude_ human form.

            "Hey Dr. McCoy, could you get a blanket or something from the jet?" Tom asked.

            "Well, it could have been worse," Coyote said, "He could have landed on his back!"  Maria was having a hard time tearing her eyes away from the incredible view she was getting.  'Damn he has a cute butt!' she thought.  While the others were distracted, Coyote slunk away.  A few moments later, they were rejoined by Mozart.

            Up on the rooftop, the stranger processed what he had seen and heard in the last few moments.  'If this 'professor' is able to train a mere boy to be able to safely handle that kind of power, then he may be able to assist me with my, problem.'  He turned, his trench coat billowing in the wind.  "Perhaps I shall pay a visit to this 'Institute'."

---To Be Continued---

            Ohhhh, who is this guy?  What problem exactly does he have?  We'll find out later.  Next time: Shawn has a heart to heart with Smaug, while Bahumut is forced to take control of the body.  We finally find out the origins of Bahumut!  And how will everyone react when they find out that their friend isn't alone with his thoughts?  Plus: what were the results of the Texas expedition?  Find out next time but until then, Read & Review.

*Peers into the muse room.  Shawn is in a full body cast, Draco is in a fetal position, sucking his thumb, and Maria is sitting in a corner, eyes closed, arms clasped around her legs, shaking.*  "The horror, the horror."  *Vegeta is leaning against one of the walls, scowling* How did the training go?  *His scowl deepens* "These pitiful weaklings didn't even get past my first set of instructions!"  *He snorts* "And I though I'd start with the easy stuff."


	16. Origins Revealed, and a New Friend Made

                          Take the Long Way Home

            _OVER ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! WHOOOOOO **_BABY_!!!! *I start doing a happy dance* YOU LIKE ME, YOU REALLY LIKE ME!  *Vegeta walks in, Draco on his heels* "What **__are you doing, you pathetic excuse for a male member of the species?" *Draco takes a look at my computer screen* "He's got over one hundred reviews now.  Let the guy celebrate already."  *I ignore my two muses, and continue to make a complete and total fool of myself*_

AzureDragoness-You can come down now. *Points to where Vegeta has captured Maria in energy rings.* But I wouldn't recommend doing that again unless you have a **serious** death wish!  And to be perfectly honest, I don't know how I write fight scenes either.  I just seem to slip into this kinda trance and the scenes usually write themselves.  This makes for less stress on my weak brain, and usually I come up with fights that most people seem to like.  Works out for everyone, doesn't it?

Warconq- thanks I guess I do have a knack for making things funny.

Fluffy Kitsune- Thanks, I am kind of an anime fan, I guess, but where did you see Kenshin references?  And sure you can be my friend!  The more the merrier! ^_^

Legendary Warrior-Thanks buddy!  Those are words to live by.

Animeluvr1-Well see, therein lies the difference.  This HP fic would be my _second fic.  Yes, my puns are bad, but I manage to come up with a gem every now and then.  Besides, that wasn't even supposed to _be_ a pun.  Yes, __that Smaug.  I was running out of good original names, so I decided to borrow; sue me already!  There's a reason he didn't break his wings, read on to discover it.  Besides, he weighs a ton and a half.  And here it is, you wanted Rick, you got Rick_

Naja-I may make a side story to explain it, or incorporate it into the main story; I'll have to think on it though.

marie lebeau-soon all will be made clear my friend.  Personally I think that Shawn's fully transformed state is one of my greatest achievements to date.  And I tossed in that last part at the end in for all the lady readers ;)

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer-This is your last warning, put the squirrel down and no one gets hurt!

Chapter 16-Origins Revealed, and a New Friend Made

            "I still think that that whole 'I'm not a mutant, I'm the magical personification of the power of rock n' roll' thing was just an excuse to keep from being exposed as a mutant." Scott scowled.  The team was back in the X-jet heading home.  Shawn was sleeping peacefully in one of the chairs, securely covered with a blanket.  He had woken up long enough to slip into one of the spare uniforms in the jet, and had fallen right back asleep.  Beast was flying, while Jean, Jubilee and Scott recovered from their injuries.  Rahne and Sam, who were practically untouched, were sitting in back, discussing the events that they had witnessed.  Maria was sitting near Shawn, throwing a glance at his still form every so often.

            "Don't be so quick to doubt the existence of magic kid," Tom spoke up from his seat.  He was scratching Mozart behind the ears, the spirit's tail thumping a mile a minute.

            "True Tom," Beast said, nodding wisely from his pilot's seat, "As a great man once said, "There are more things in heaven and earth than can be contained in _any philosophy.""  Scott opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off by a groan from Shawn.  Maria hung back, but nonetheless had a worried expression.  He sat up then, stretching as he groaned.  He worked his neck from side to side, wincing as a series of sharp cracks emanated from that part of his anatomy.  He looked around a minute, taking in the distinct lack of platinum haired rockers, and looked at Sam, who along with Rahne and Tom, had come to check on him._

            "Turned us down?"  It came out more like a statement than a question.

            "Flatter n' a pancake," Sam replied with a wry smile.  Beast set the X-jet on autopilot, and came back to check on the dracomorph (AN: I'm going to use this word to describe Shawn's power from now on.  Basically it means he turns into a dragon.).  After completing his exam, he sat back on his heels.

            "And the verdict is…?" Shawn asked.  Beast smiled.

            "Physically you're fine, but I'd like the Professor to give you a mental checkup, just to make sure everything is alright upstairs.  Tapping into your power like that could have produced some strange effects in your mind."  Since when have you _ever_ been in your right mind? Bahumut chuckled.  _I do not understand.  Our host seems to be in full possession of his mental facilities_ Smaug said perplexedly.  Shawn sighed mentally.  Bahumut, I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to have to explain quite a few things to Smaug.  While I'm busy with that, I want you to explain exactly what you are to the professor, and what exactly is going on in here.  Hell, half the time you know what's going on in my head better than I do.  He jerked out of his revere when he felt a cold nose on his palm.  The others had retreated back to their previous positions to let him be alone with his thoughts.

            "Yipe! Oh it's just you Mozart."  He leaned down to scratch the spirit's ears, whispering as he did so, "Thanks for the assist bud.  We may not have beaten them without you."  Mozart nodded slightly, taking the thanks in stride.  Then Shawn felt a soft hand on his shoulder.  He turned, and was surprised to see Maria.  She gave him a shy, fleeting smile, before saying two words in a small, clear voice.

            "Thank you."  She turned to go back to her seat, but Shawn gripped her wrist.  She stopped and looked back at him curiously.  He smiled and patted the seat next to him.  Maria glanced around furtively.  Beast was back in the cockpit, with Tom next to him, asking questions about the different buttons and switches, saying "What does _this do?" like some two year old.  Sam, Rahne and Jubilee were petting Mozart, who was soaking up the attention like a sponge, also effectively acting as a diversion.  Jean and Scott were in the back, where Jean was kissing Scott's booboos.  He appeared to have been severely injured around the mouth, the way she was attacking it.  Maria sat down nervously, keeping a slight distance from Shawn.  He noticed this, and smirked._

            "Relax; I don't bite; unless you're a steak or cheeseburger."  She smiled a bit at the small joke.  "But seriously, I should be thanking _you."  She looked at him in surprise, but before she could say anything, he spoke again.  "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to work up the courage to unlock a potentially dangerous part of my mind and bring it to bear against our opponents.  You helped me get over a fear I've had for almost as long as I can remember; and for that, I thank you."  Maria blushed lightly, hanging her head so that her hair obscured her face.  The rest of the flight passed in relative silence, with only one other incident.  Sam had gone up to Tom and, with a puzzled look on his face._

            "Who exactly was that Coyote fella?"  Tom had seemed to be at a loss for words for a split second, before falling back on the old standby he, Shawn and Mozart had agreed to use a long time ago if anyone ever asked who Coyote was.  Tom grinned.

            "Just an old friend."  Shawn, who had watched the exchange, laughed quietly to himself, so as not to disturb Maria, who had fallen asleep and was currently snuggled obliviously against his shoulder.  Mozart, padding up to them, sat down on his haunches and took in the scene.  He locked eyes with Shawn and gave the boy a solemn wink, which was returned.  After that, Shawn fell prey to sleep's gentle embrace once more.  Neither one of the two sleepers noticed the noise of the small Polaroid camera Tom had produced, and was using to capture several pictures of the two snuggled up to one another.  "These are _definitely going into the scrapbook," he chuckled.  "Shawn's first girlfriend" sounds about right for the heading."_

-Location Unknown-

            A figure was seated in front of what appeared to be a holographic screen, watching the footage that the national news team had gotten of the fight in Cleveland.  He, for it was apparently a boy, was scratching the ears of a strange, green cat-shaped creature, with yellow tiger stripes.  "Seems like my old buddy got himself into the spotlight yet again."  He paused, wincing as Shawn's dragon form descended from the heavens; wings clasped tightly to his sides, and flipped midair, slamming onto the helmeted mutant's shoulders.  "That's gonna leave a weird shaped bruise."  He seemed to think a bit more, before seeming to come to a conclusion.  "Maybe I should pay my old buddy an incognito visit?"  

            The boy got up and began to gather things together, what appeared to be two ammo belts, worn Rambo style, with small glowing orbs of differing colors and degrees of brightness attached to them, a belt for his waist with two large leather pouches that clanked slightly when he moved.  Finally he picked up a pair of daggers with large diamond shaped blades, which he thrust into his belt as he whistled for his small feline companion.  In the background, the room's walls were a light green, with dark lines going through it, and every so often a small spark seemed to shot along one of the darker lines, almost like…

-The Institute-

            Scott and Jean were the first to disembark from the jet, followed by Tom, Rahne, Sam, Jubilee and Beast.  After a few moments, Mozart came trotting out to the accompaniment of several disgusted yells, a smug canine grin on his face.  After that, Shawn and Maria stormed out of the jet, with Maria wiping the drool off of her face.  Shawn was massaging a bruised check where Maria had elbowed him when Mozart had licked her.  Jean looked around a moment, taking in the distinct lack of people to greet them.  Only the professor and Storm were there.  "Professor, where is everyone?"

            "Most of the students have gone their own ways for the day.  All except for Bobby and Jamie, who are showing our newest recruit around the mansion."  Scott looked a little put out at this news, but the professor continued.  "Am I to assume that Kid Razor declined our invitation?"  Tom piped up at this point.

            "The guy claimed that he wasn't a mutant.  And personally, I believe him."  The professor shot him a questioning look, which Tom took for a signal to proceed.  "From what I've seen, most mutants have one, possibly two powers, usually connected in some way.  Razor seems to posses six or seven powers that aren't connected to each other in any way, shape or form."  The Professor nodded.  He quirked an eyebrow at the team, especially Jubilee.

            "I see that no one is the worse for wear after your little, "confrontation"."  Jubilee flushed, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.  "Jubilee, Maria; Storm will attend to your punishments."  He paused, then "However, since your presences gave the team an advantage in your fight, they will not be _too_ severe."  He turned to Shawn then.  "Shawn, you will be punished as well, after we attend to this new development.  I believe it might be best if we go to my office."  Shawn sighed before following the professor.  The others went their separate ways, except for Tom, who asked to know what was going on.  The professor explained as they walked, or rolled in his case.

            "Dr. McCoy and I have a theory regarding feral mutants, such as Shawn and Rahne.  We believe that they each have an animal persona that is, in essence, their animal forms.  I merely wish to see if this is true for Shawn as it is for Rahne."  Tom seemed to think this over.

            "Alright then, but I want to be in on this."  Xavier nodded.

            "Of course, I understand."  Shawn followed along behind the two, not really listening.  He glanced out of one of the windows as they passed it, and spied a new motorcycle in the garage.  This intrigued him, so he spoke up.  
  
            "Hey, professor?"

            "Yes?"

            "Is that a new bike for Logan?"

            The professor paused for a moment, and looked back out the window.  "No, that particular machine belongs to our newest recruit, Rick Carter."  Anticipating the next question, Xavier spoke again.  "His powers give him the ability to project vibratory waves through the air, causing quite a bit of damage when they hit."  Shawn nodded.

            "So where's he rooming?"  The professor seemed to squirm a bit in his chair.

            "Well… Since you and Sam have the most spacious room…and the others can't really share… and since you and Sam are probably the two least likely to have any, shall we say, differences with him, I've decided that…"

            "I got a new roomie, huh?"

            "Yes."  Shawn was silent for a moment, then grinned.

            "As long as he doesn't snore as bad as Sammy-boy I'm good."  Tom just shook his head, as the professor gave a quick grin.  The three of them arrived at the office and entered.  Xavier gestured to a chair, asking Shawn to sit there.  Tom sat in one of the other spare chairs.  Charles wheeled himself in front of Shawn.

            "Now Shawn, I need you to close your eyes, clear your mind and relax."  As he spoke, he raised his hands until they were on either side of the boys head.  The professor shut his eyes as he slipped himself into Shawn's consciousness.

            Charles found himself in what appeared to be a plain room, with four doors, one on each wall.  One was a plain wooden door, with a sign tacked on it that said "Warning, Live Teenager- Enter at Own Risk".  Opposite, was an opening covered with a curtain.  Third was an opening that seemed to lead into a large cave, with stalagmites at the entrance.  Finally, there was a heavy iron door that was barricaded with several bands of metal, more locks than seemed possible, and a sign that said "Sub-Conscious, Do Not Enter, Under _ANY Circumstances".  "This is a strange sort of mind," the professor mused to himself._

            "Well; it takes a strange sort of person to support two other minds within his own Chuck," a voice chuckled from behind him.  The professor turned to find himself nearly nose-to-nose with one of the strangest beings he had ever seen.  It was a man, with brown hair and a moustache/goatee combo, as well as eyes that perfectly matched Shawn's in hue, wearing what appeared to be the upper half of a roman centurion's armor.  The lower half was a pair of jeans with metal plates worked into them and the same T-rex feet as Shawn's fully transformed figure possessed.  He also had an empty scabbard hanging from the belt at his waist.  From his back sprouted a pair of robin's-egg blue dragon wings.  He gave a fanged grin and wiggled his fingers in a small wave.  "Hey Joe, whadda ya know?"  The professor blinked, looked at the man who was still grinning; and blinked once more.

            "What…who are you?" he demanded, gathering his powers if the being proved to be an enemy.  The being's grin became even wider as he made an elegant leg.

            "Bahumut; at your humble service."  His grin faded a bit as he looked up.  "And as to what I am, I'll explain in a moment."  His grin returned in full force.  "But first, let's attend to the matter that you came here for in the first place."  Bahumut strode over to the wooden door and opened it, gesturing for the professor to follow.  The two found themselves in what appeared to be a normal teenage bedroom.  A few video games were piled in a corner, there was a dartboard that had a picture of a gorilla-like teen, which looked to be severely lacking in the intelligence department, and several magazines lay scattered about, mostly things like "Martial Arts Monthly", though the professor was sure he spotted a single "Playboy" sticking out from underneath the bed.  One wall had several posters on it, varying from classic rock groups to comedians like Sinbad, to one that seemed to be a blow-up of a picture of Maria laughing.  In one corner lay a large storage bin, which seemed to give off a grayish light.  "This is Shawn's section of the mind, as you can see, pretty standard stuff," Bahumut said, indicating the room with a sweeping gesture.  Before the professor could ask what he meant by "Shawn's section", Bahumut walked back out the door, calling over his shoulder, "Shawn's in Smaug's section right now, we'll go there next, then to my section and I'll answer any questions you have there."

The professor followed, curiosity getting the better of him.  Bahumut led the way to the cavern-like opening and stepped through.  Once again, the professor found himself in a new setting.  This time, it was a large, comfortably dry cave, with a thick carpet of moss covering the floor.  The sound of voices was coming from deeper within.  Bahumut motioned for the professor to follow, and the two ventured into the cave.  They turned a bend and came upon the source of the voices.

            Shawn was calmly standing in front of a huge gray dragon with red wings, which was wrapped around a large stalagmite, watching him with interest.  Shawn had a pointer in one hand, which he was using to point to one of those boardroom style easels, with a picture of Logan on the uppermost piece of cardboard (AN: What the _hell are those things?!?!)  He whapped the board with the pointer.  "And this one?"  The dragon thought for a moment, then spoke._

            "_Flight mate?"  Shawn nodded.  He pulled the card down, revealing a picture of Maria.  He tapped it with the pointer.  "_Potential mate_?"  Shawn blushed, but nodded all the same._

            "Just don't go saying that if you're ever in charge of the body, okay?"  The dragon nodded his huge head, and Shawn proceeded to change the pictures once more.  This time it was a fairly good likeness of Mr. Smith, Tabby's father.  "This guy?"

            Smaug considered it for a moment before answering, a grim smile on his face.  "_Barbeque._"  Shawn nodded; an identical smile upon his face.  He changed the picture once more, this time to a picture of the professor himself.  Smaug didn't even hesitate, "_The Flight Leader," he said, with a note of respect.  Bahumut led the way out once more, neither one bothering the lesson going on; but not before the professor noticed that the column Smaug was curled around was giving off a grayish glow, similar to the one that had been being given off by the storage bin back in Shawn's room._

            The two of them crossed through the white room once more time, with the professor finally speaking up.  "What is this place?"  Bahumut spoke over his shoulder as he walked.

            "It's basically the one percent of Shawn's mind that isn't assigned to myself, Shawn, or Smaug.  The other ninety-nine percent is divided evenly between the three of us."  He swept the curtain covering the final opening aside, and gestured Xavier through.  Charles found himself in what appeared to be an outdoor atrium, with several touches of roman style.  Near the entrance was a roman style column, giving off the same glow that the professor had seen in the other two sections of his student's mind.  In the center of the space was a small, open-air house with a small ramp leading up to the entrance.  The professor wheeled his way in, following Bahumut's lead.  The being sat down in a small chair.  "Now I believe that it's time to answer your questions.  What do you want to know first?"

            "Well, what exactly are you?  And why is Shawn's mind sectioned off like this?"  Bahumut grinned and shook his head knowingly.

            "The first questions are always the hardest, aren't they?"  He settled back in his chair, as he began his narrative.  "My story begins several centuries ago.  I was a centurion in the roman army, one of those sent to Ireland to conquer it.  I ended up being captured and put to work on the estates of a powerful warlord, The O'Reily.  I accepted my lot and became a valued worker, eventually earning my freedom.  I fell in love with The O'Reily's daughter, Beth, and we were married.  But soon after the birth of our son, I was called to fight in a battle because of my experience as a warrior.  I was mortally wounded, and, as I lay dying, I wished to myself that I could have seen my son grow up."

            As he spoke, his face drooped into a frown, before twisting into a wry smile.  "I got my wish," he chuckled.  "Apparently I had been born with a great deal of psychonic energy.  This gift had been passed to my son as well, forming a link between our minds.  Before I drew my last breath, my untapped powers drew on this link, and transferred my mind into the unused portion of my son's brain."  The professor took this all in with growing astonishment as Bahumut continued.  "I was able to watch my son grow, giving him advice and support subconsciously.  When he had a son of his own, I found that the power I had was now present in the firstborn child of each generation of my line.  When my grandson grew to about ten years old, the bond he shared with his father pulled me through into _his_ mind.  And so on and so forth.  Over the years I've learned how to block the bond so that I could stay in one mind as long as I wanted.  I also learned how to 'section off' the unused portion of my descendants minds so that I could have a place to rest without getting annoyed by stray thoughts."  He looked at the professor.  "Do you have any _idea_ of the type of stuff teenagers think about today?" he laughed.  Charles found himself nodding and chuckling along with this strange being.

            "So in essence, you are Shawn's ancestor?" he asked.  Bahumut nodded.  "I assume that Shawn is aware of your presence?"

            "Shawn's a special case.  I helped him through some tough times when he was a kid, and later on when Smaug first emerged."  The professor leaned forward in interest.

            "Go on."

            "When Shawn was about ten, Smaug began to develop.  But he was extremely vicious at the time, taking everything for a threat.  I drew on Shan's psychokinetic energy to create a sort of holding cell for the dragonet.  Eventually I also sectioned off Shawn's mind into thirds.  His portion, my own portion, and Smaug's portion; each portion consisting of thirty-three percent of Shawn's brain.  The leftover one percent was turned into The Nexus, which we use to communicate between ourselves.  As time passed though, Smaug began to grow stronger, making it possible for him to escape.  In response, Shawn's power base grew.  Today, Shawn took down the cell and released Smaug."  He shook his head once again.  "It turns out, that locking the big lug up like that wasn't even necessary.  He just oversimplifies things.  To him any type of threat is something that needs to be destroyed, if only to keep himself and his flight safe.  But Shawn's working to break him of the habit."  He leaned back n his chair.  "And that's the whole story."

            "Thank you for this information Bahumut.  But I have one other question.  I've noticed that in each of the sections is an object that is giving off a strange glow.  What are they?"

            "When Shawn took down the barrier that kept Smaug contained, the energy was too much for him to contain in his portion of his mind alone.  That's one of the main reasons that he went berserk during the fight.  That was also what caused the shockwave and the aura.  Anyway, I divided up the power so that each of us received an equal measure of it.  But for some reason, Shawn doesn't appear to be able to properly tap into the power, While Smaug and I can access into it with ease."  Bahumut looked up at a small clock that was mounted on one of the walls.  "I think that it's time for you to leave Chuck, you've been in here for about two hours."  Charles nodded.

            "Thank you for this information, it's been most helpful."  So saying, Xavier closed his eyes and eased out of his student's consciousness.  He slumped in his chair as Shawn opened his eyes.  "Well," he said wryly, "You've been keeping secrets, haven't you?"  Tom looked up from the comic book he had pulled out of his back pocket after the first ten minutes had gone by and neither had moved a muscle.

            "Whadda ya mean by that?"  Xavier turned and face him.

            "Shawn has two completely separate entities living within his mindsacpe.  One is his feral persona, but I doubt you'll believe me when I tell you what the other one is."  Tom raised an eyebrow at this.

            "Try me."  Xavier waited a beat, then told him.  Tom was silent for a moment then…  "I think I need some whiskey."  Xavier wheeled over behind his desk and pulled out a large bottle of Jack Daniels, along with two shot glasses.

            "Shawn, you can go now.  Your punishment will begin tomorrow."  Shawn nodded and left.  He made his way to his room, listening to the normal commotion of the mansion in the early evening.  Tabby was downstairs doing dishes; he could hear her cursing the brillo pad to a fiery eternal damnation from here.  Scott and Jean were performing one of their various 'exercises' as he passed the leader of the X-men's room.  Looking out a window, he saw Rahne and Sam playing Frisbee, while Jubilee, Ray and Bobby were playing a game of basketball against a trio of Jamies.  As he passed the steps, he heard an outraged exclamation from Amara, which was covered by the crowing of 'Berto.  He had heard Kitty mutter something about missing a date with Lance earlier, which explained her absence.  As he passed by her room however, he saw that Maria was asleep on her bed, the covers thrown messily over her.

            He stopped for a moment, debating on whether he should follow the insane idea that had just popped into existence.  He shrugged after a moment 'Eh, why not, insane ideas have gotten me this far.'  He entered the room, and softly pulled the covers over Maria, tucking her in gently.  A soft southern cough had his back going ram-rod straight.  He looked over his shoulder to see Rouge, a vicious smirk on her face.  "Not. One. Word." He whispered.  As he left the room, he heard her sigh and saw her glance at a card she had been hiding behind her back.  He grinned.  The card was the King of Hearts.

            He finally made it to his room and opened the door.  "Rick, I presume," he said in a dry voice.  The guy sitting on the new bed in the room, guitar in hand, nodded.  He was about as tall as Scott, with shaggy brown hair, dressed in a way that screamed "BIKER AND PROUD OF IT!"  A leather jacket was hung on one of the bedposts, and a pair of boots rested on the floor.  His left eyebrow was pierced, completing his ensemble.  Shawn eyed the leather jacket for a moment.  "How'd you manage to get that past Kitty without getting the whole 'animals are people too' spiel?"  Rick grinned.

            "Told her it was pleather; she bought it."  Shawn groaned.

            "Man that's completely unfair!  I eat a lousy cheeseburger and she acts like I'm eating a live baby!"  Rick shook his head in sympathy before returning to his guitar.  "I take it you play guitar?"  Rick shot him a look.

            "It aint a ukulele."  Shawn grinned.

            "I think that this may be the beginning of a be-u-ti-ful friendship."  He sat down on his own bed and pulled out some diagrams from under his mattress.  "Now," he began in a business-like manner, "What do you know about fire ants and cherry bombs?"

-Late Night, A Bayville Alley-

            A small girl ran, he oversized hands pumping as she went.  Her breath was coming in gasps, but other than that she made no sound.  'Why did I wander away from the others?' she thought.  Behind her, several street thugs gave chase, laughing as they easily cornered the girl in the dead-end alley.  Above them, two figures, each unseen by the other, watched the scene, each ready to step in should the situation get out of hand.  One of the tightened his grip on a pistol, while the other unhooked a small, dim red orb from an ammo belt across his chest, using his other hand to dip into a pouch at his side and withdraw several small knives.

            The girl reached the wall at the end of the alley and began scrabbling desperately, trying to find a way to escape.  The thugs leered at her, one wrapping a chain around his knuckles as another took a few practice swings with a lead pipe.  The closer of the two watchers threw the orb in his hand, whispering, "Initiate Program" as he did so.  It landed at the entranceway to the alley, and began to pulse for a moment, before beginning to give off points of light.  The thug's advance on the girl was cut off as a beam of bright light filled the alley, along with the sudden roar of a large motorcycle.  They turned around, to see a shadowed figure atop a strange custom bike, with the headlight ensconced in a chrome skull.

            "Well, whadda we got here?" the figure sneered in a plainly Bronx accent.  "A couple of guyz whos thinks they can mess wit a little girl on my watch?"  The figure dismounted from his bike as the gang's leader turned to confront this obstacle.

            "We do what…we…want?"  His snarling challenge died as the figure became visible.  He was tall, nearly seven feet, and thin as a post.  A tail swished through the air behind him, and three piercing green eyes peered out of a helmet that covered the top half of his face, leaving his blonde hair to show through the back.  He wore several leather buckles over the arms of his bomber jacket, with a bandanna tied around his left arm.  Slung around his hips were two loose fitting gun-belts, each one occupied by a double barreled pistol.  He grinned, showing off two large fangs.

            "Do I have somethin' in my teeth?"  The gang members decided that this freak would probably kill them without a second; or first thought for that matter.  They ran, trying to keep out of the reach of those spindly clawed arms.  Up one the roof, the pistol wielder holstered his pistols as he turned and left.  The other person leapt down, next to the strange figure.  He was fairly short, and on the wiry side.  He had blonde hair, and blue eyes, wearing a worn out wife-beater and brown cargo short. A pair of goggles rested on a bandanna above his eyes.

            "Nice job Biker, but you need to go back for a while."  The figures face fell.

            "Awww, I wanted to blast some wannabe gang bangers," he whined.  His 'boss' made a gesture, and the figure burst into bright particles of light, as did his bike, before coalescing into the orb that they had come from.  The boy hooked the orb back to his ammo belt, and put his knives back into his pouch.  He began to walk slowly towards the girl, when he froze.

            "I wasn't going to hurt her you know," he said softly to Spyke, who was wielding one of his flame tipped spears, and had the business pointed at the boy's spine.  The boy back flipped out of the way, hurling a knife as he passed over Evan.  The dagger knocked the flaming spear from the mutant's hands, but he quickly produced another.  He made a move to attack, but stopped when the little girl tugged on his pants leg.

            "Torpid, what are you doing, he could be an enemy!"  She shook her head vigorously.  The other boy pocketed the shurikans that he had produced.

            "Listen, I'm just in town to check up on an old friend.  I saw what was going on and decided to lend a hand."  He eyed the spike in Spyke's hands.  "Besides, why would I want to hurt a fellow mutant?"  Even grudgingly lowered his weapon.

            "Fine." He said gruffly.  "I'm Spyke," he added as an afterthought.

            "Do tell," the other boy grinned.  He offered his hand.  "Name's Jon, but my friends call me Hack."

---To Be Continued---

            Well, that's Hack.  Next time, strange things are happening to the electronics around the Institute.  Why are Dr. McCoy's computers suddenly correcting all of his mistakes before he's even aware of them?  Why does the DR suddenly seem to have a life of his own?  And why is Shawn running the Barney them song through Cerebro?  Also, Tom leaves the Institute to return to his dojo.  Why?  Find out most of the answers next time, but until then, Read & Review!


	17. An Unexpected House Guest

Take the Long Way Home

            Well, here's chapter seventeen. And for all of you who love Tom, I'm sorry, but he's gonna be leaving for a while. But do not fear, he _shall_ return!  And here's some review replies, since my muses are still recuperating from their training session with Vegeta.  But before I start, has anyone realized exactly _what_ Biker was modeled after?

P.S.: Ya know what?  I've just realized that I've been spelling Rogue's name wrong for the past sixteen chapters!  Kinda funny though. ^_^

Legendary Warrior- Hey, relax, he's gonna have another brief appearance in this chapter, but he won't be fully introduced for the next two chapters.  I have some things I need to take care of first.

Warconq-Good things come to those who wait my friend.  They will get together eventually, but I have a certain order I want things to go in.

marie lebeau- I'm glad that you like Hack.  And I thought that the poster was a nice touch.  Thanks, but all the credit for Rick, and his personality, goes to Animeluvr1.  And there is a reason for the song of damnation being played; but you'll have to read to find out.

Naja-Thanks, I think the last chapter _also_ established that he's _not_ a schizophrenic.

Andivari-Good to have you back on board my friend.  And thanks.

Animeluvr1-Yes, Rick has made his grand appearance.  And my head doesn't swell that much when I get a compliment, I'm actually a pretty humble guy.  Draco coughs at that moment, sounding suspiciously like "_Bullshit_".  On a different note, I'd like to borrow your "Pyror Saga", though slightly modified.  I had an idea for a different type of ending to it, which would bring Bahumut into the spotlight.

Fluffy Kitsune- Oh.

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- Piss me off, get a free bullet.  Piss my friend off, get a free bazooka shell.  Lawyers tend to piss both of us off.  It's not healthy to be a lawyer around us, you tend to wind up in small charred pieces.

Chapter 17- An Unexpected House Guest

            Shawn watched as his uncle finished hooking the trailer to his jeep.  Tom had received a phone call the night before from Old Man Kamiya, Slash's grandfather, who had been teaching classes alongside Benny, one of Tom's advanced students while the ninja was away.  As he had put it, "There's trouble brewin' back home, dude.  Hack's old man is gettin' people all riled up.  The whole town is about ready to go up, better get back here before somethin' sets it off!"  Tom had started packing almost before the phone was on the hook.

            A few of the students had gathered to see him off, including Rick, who was there to say goodbye to Mozart as well.  In a way, the coyote had provided a reminder of home for the southwestern mutant while he adjusted to his new surroundings.  Storm was there too, but Logan was at one of his usual hangouts, having a celebratory drink.  Shawn thought that doing the conga out the door had been a little over the top though.

            Tom patted the lump under the tarp on the back of his jeep that was Mozart, then turned and faced Shawn.  He held out his hand, and Shawn clasped it by the wrist.  "I guess we'll see you when the holiday's come round; either that or the next tournament."  Shawn nodded.  "Just remember… Never give up."

            "Never back down," Shawn replied.

            "And never stop fighting till the enemy hits the ground!" they chorused, finishing the ritual.  While the small gathering of people watched the strange proceedings, no one noticed a furry form slink out of the back of the jeep, leave a folded piece of paper stuck behind the wheel, and streak off towards the woods.

            As Tom climbed into the seat, Rick looked at Shawn.  "What was that all about?"

            Shawn watched his only living relative screech out the front gate, belting out the lyrics to "Born to Be Wild", before he answered.  "It's the motto of our dojo.  It's one of the first things he ever taught me," he grinned, "Well, that… and how to fill water balloons with tapioca pudding."  Rick shook his head.  He'd only met the guy two days ago and he was already wondering about his sanity.  Even so, he had made quick friends with the quirky martial artist.  Everyone turned, and began to go their separate ways.  Shawn made a gesture to Rick, Bobby and Jamie, a motion for them to meet up inside.  Unfortunately, Tabby saw, and followed at a discrete distance.  And following all of their movements was one of the Institute security cameras.  But the lens of the camera seemed to have a bluish sheen to it.

            Farther away, the white haired man in red from Cleveland perched on one of the walls.  "So this is the Institute I heard of," he mused.  His eyes narrowed suddenly as he caught sight if Kurt.  His eyes narrowed even further, and he appeared to be peering right through the blue furred boy.  He sank back, relief on his face.  "I would have hated to have had to kill someone dear to those that I wish to seek help from," he said to himself.  The way he talked to himself gave one the impression that this was a man that spent a great deal of time alone.

            Back with the guys, Shawn had gathered the four of them into a loose circle.  "Okay guys, we're gonna make our move today."  Shawn looked pointedly at Bobby.  "And I don't want to even _see_ a poodle this time!"  Rick opened his mouth, as if to ask a question, but shut it just as quickly, shaking his head. 'I don't even want to _know_!' he thought.  Just as Shawn began to outline the prank that he had roped Rick into, another voice had his head shooting up in a panic as he passed the plans he had produced to Jaime, who passed them to Bobby, who passed it to Rick, who stuffed the paper under his shirt.

            "And what move would that be?"  All four of them turned to grin nervously at Tabby, who gave them a mischievous smile.  She came right up, and began to look each one of them in the eye.  "So what are you devils planning now, hmmm?"  When she got to Rick, her eyes flickered to the tell-tale bulge in his shirt, before her hand shot out and grabbed a corner of the paper that was sticking out from under his shirt.  Shawn and Rick both made a grab for it, but ended up smacking into one another instead.  Bobby made a grab for it as well, but backed off when Tabby presented him with a cherry bomb.  His hand dropped back to his side, and Tabby defused the small sphere.  Jamie, very wisely, stood back and just watched.  She scanned the sheet, then looked at Shawn and Rick, who were gingerly rubbing their heads.  "So which one of you guys came up with this gem?"  Shawn raised a hand.

            "Guilty."  Tabby handed the paper back to him before turning and walking away.  She winked at Rick as she passed him.

            "Can't wait to see how it turns out."  She called over her shoulder.  Bobby and Shawn patted a stunned Rick on the back.  He ignored them, still looking back the way that Tabby had gone, looking like he had just been whapped upside the head with a large frozen tuna.

-Beast's Lab-

            Dr. Hank McCoy worked happily at his computer terminal, talking to himself as he worked.  "Now I put this last bit of code in and…"  He stopped as the computer screen began to blink a bright yellow before returning to its original state.  Suddenly, before his eyes, the different algorithms began to rearrange themselves, several pieces of code deleting themselves and being replaced with new code.  As soon as it was done, the program began to run, just like he had told it to before the computer had developed a mind of his own.  The modified program ran perfectly, analyzing the new samples he had obtained from Shawn's full dragon form.  He had had to modify the original program he had used to analyze the boy's unique chemistry, since the original program had crashed when he had tried to run it. He had also been overjoyed to note the fact that, so far, his theory on feral mutants with alternate animal forms seemed to be holding true.

            Beast frowned and, typing in a command, stopped the program.  With a few quick keystrokes, he initiated a virus scan, trying to find out exactly what had happened to his original program.  His frown deepened when the scan turned up nothing.  He rubbed at his chin.  "Curiouser and curiouser," he mused.  He began to look over the modified algorithms, mentally checking it against the original programming.  "Hmmm, it seems that there were some flaws in my original program, but they've all been corrected.  How strange," the blue furred scientist mused, stroking his chin.

            He was so absorbed in his computers, he failed to notice one of the monitors near him jump to life, displaying the image of what _appeared_ to be a large, armored tiger with green fur and yellow stripes.  The image appeared to be smiling, before the monitor went blank.

-The Kitchen-

            Roberto walked past the entrance to the kitchen on his way to the garage.  He paused, blinked once, and backtracked.  He craned his neck to peer into the kitchen, and rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was _actually_ seeing this.  A tall, blonde haired figure in a bomber jacket was calmly sipping a Michelob Light from Logan's stash, lizard-like tail curled loosely around his legs.  'Berto backed slowly down the hall, until he bumped into someone.  He turned around, coming face to face with Amara.  "You look like you've seen a ghost," the princess smiled.  He mutely tugged on her arm, leading her towards the kitchen.  He pointed into the room.  Amara, a puzzled look on her face, did as he bid, and peered into the room.  She looked around the room, then turned and gave the Brazilian a puzzled look.  "Is this some sort of joke?"  Roberto shoved past her as he scanned the kitchen incredulously.  Amara, shocked by his behavior, "hmph-ed" and engaged what Shawn had came to call "Princess-con one", or "Prin-con one" for short.  It was her most royally pissed attitude she had, and, unfortunately for Shawn, was a short step away from her igniting something, usually whoever had managed to piss her off, which was usually him.  Whenever she got that look on her face, he headed for the next time zone, until she cooled off.

            "B-b-b-bbut I could have _sworn_…" Roberto began, scratching his head as he looked about for any sign of the figure he had seen.  He turned and began to follow after the irate princess, trying to tell her, without any notable success, what he had seen.  Neither of them noticed that one of the small intercom panels that were placed throughout the Institute was flipped open, and was giving off a faint red glow before the panel seemingly closed of its own volition, leaving a low, ghostly sounding chuckle floating on the air.

-Later That Night, Institute-

            Logan staggered through the lower levels of the Institute, obviously drunk, as he was singing "Doo Wah Diddy" under his breath.  He lurched along the wall, heading towards the Danger Room.  He pressed the panel to open the door, and stopped dead in his tracks when it "whooshed" open.

            There was a large, green, tiger with yellow stripes lying on the floor, purring contentedly.  It had on several pieces of armor, though nothing that seemed to be able to hinder its movement.  "Shcuse(Excuse) me," Logan slurred, "I *hic* din know tha thish room wash ocupied."  He let the doors shut, and began to stagger on down the hall.  He stopped, frowning perplexedly, before returning to the door.  He pressed the button once again, and, once again, stopped in his tracks.

            The tiger creature was gone, and in its place, Biker, the figure Roberto had observed earlier in the kitchen, was lounging on his parked motorcycle, polishing one of his double-barreled pistols with the bandanna off of his arm.  He stopped, glanced at Logan, then returned to his polishing, idly sighting down the barrels of the gun.  "Nisch(nice) *hic* bike, wash shu(you) call it *hic*?" the Canadian slurred.  Biker never looked up from his gun.

            "Behemoth."  Logan nodded, before he turned once more, and left the premises.  He finally made it to his own room, and promptly passed out on his bed.

-Next Morning-

            Logan, looking especially hung-over, inspected the team he would be putting through the DR session today.  It consisted of Rick, Draco, Shadowcat, Wolfsbane, Wildcat, Rogue, Boom-Boom and Cannonball.  "Alright, time to see if my training's finally starting to sink into your thick teenaged skulls, or if I need to start doing more drills.  As in every other day!"  He looked at Rick, who seemed particularly nervous.  "Shaggy, I want you to find a partner, and stick to them.  The others are going to do the same in this little exercise.  It's designed to test your abilities to work as a team to defeat an enemy with powers.  Your temporary change in wardrobe is to help in this exercise."  Instead of their normal training outfits, everyone was wearing a suit that had wiring running down the legs, and along the arms, with a small backpack like attachment on the back which the wires fed into.

            "The object of this exercise is to subdue the opposing teams, by any means possible, without being taken out yourself.  That means that you can use your powers, the circuitry in these things is almost indestructible.  The suits are programmed so that, should the suit take a hit to a non-vital area, say your arm, it will freeze up and render the limb motionless.  And if you get hit in a vital area, say in the spine or stomach, the entire suit freezes for the duration of the exercise."  He gave a nasty grin, "in other words kiddies, you 'die'."

            "Separate into teams of two, move to different parts of the room, and then we'll begin," Wolverine called over his shoulder as he strode out of the room.  When he reached the observation deck, he glanced at Beast.  "They paired up yet Hank?" he asked gruffly.  The scientist nodded, sparing the DR floor a glance.  Logan took a look for himself and bit back several oaths.  The teams were:  Kitty and Rogue, Rahne and Sam, Rick and Tabby, and Shawn and Maria.  It was the last team that had him extending his claws.  Hank looked up at the noise, and followed the irate Canadian's glare, before he began to chuckle.

            "It would appear that the two of them are becoming _quite_ attached to each other, even if both refuse to admit it," he remarked to no one in particular.

            "Just start the damn holograms before I go down there and do something I _might_ regret!" Logan growled.  Beast nodded, and began typing.  A loud beeping from the computer terminal quickly had him frowning.  Logan looked over his shoulder.  "Something wrong Hank?"

            Dr. McCoy's voice was worried.  "Someone's locked me out of the system!" he gasped.  On the screen, a message had come up saying "Running program-SSB.  SF level selected."

            Down in the DR, Rick had been talking to Tabby.  "So how badly do you think we'll beat the others?"

            Tabby shook her head.  "I don't think it'll be us doing the beating Shaggy.  Scales and Mini-Logan are both tough customers on their own.  If they teamed up, they'll be close to impossible to beat."  As she spoke, the air around them shimmered and began to change.  Into the exterior of a gigantic spaceship!

            Rick and Tabby found themselves near the nose of the ship, along with Kitty and Rogue.  Rahne and Sam were near the tip of the fin of the ship.  Shawn and Maria had ended up on a lower level, near the engine.  Shawn began to look around in confusion.  "Somehow, I _don't_ think this is the setting that we're supposed to be in," he said, scratching his head.  Near the nose of the ship, Rick was taking a long hard look at the new surroundings.

            "Ummm…Tabby?" he said.

            "Yeah Shaggy?"

            "Is it just me, or does this setting look familiar?" Tabby opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, when Sam shouted out a warning.

            "INCOMING!"  Everyone hit the deck (pun not intended) as a small craft zipped overhead, dispensing laser fire.  As quickly as it came, the craft was gone.

            "Like, what was that!?" Kitty asked, picking herself up off of the floor.

            "Ah don know, but ah think somethin' went horribly wrong with this exercise," Rogue drawled.  She peered upwards towards the observation deck.  "Hey Beast! What's going on up there?  You nearly _fried_ us with that thing!"  Beast's answer over a hidden loudspeaker did _very_ little to calm their nerves.

            "I'm not responsible for this Rogue, something else is controlling the Danger Room, and it's locked the doors, so I can't get you out.  Until I can figure out a way to get you all out of there, I would suggest sticking together and hope that this program doesn't do anything else."  As Beast finished, Shawn appeared from the lower level, winging his way to the group.  Maria was being held securely, even a bit possessively, in his arms.  Kitty, Rahne and Tabby all exchanged knowing looks.

            He landed, set Maria down, and looked at Rick.  "Is it just me, or does this hologram look like…" he began.

            "The Starfox level in Super Smash Bros.?" Rick finished.  "I'd say that that's a resounding yes."  He pointed.  The others followed his finger, and Shawn began to swear, using several words that he had picked up around the tournaments

            Coming towards them was an armored form, orange and yellow, with a medium sized laser cannon mounted on one arm.  The figures face was concealed by a green visor.  The figure stopped a distance away, and carefully aimed its cannon at the group.  "SCATTER!" Shawn yelled, shoving Maria and Rogue out of his way.  Sam blasted upwards, almost unconsciously grabbing Rahne and taking her with him, while Kitty phased down into the hull, going under the blast.  Rick, a determined look on his face, stood his ground in front of Tabby, and punched the air, aiming for the figure.  There was a peculiar noise, almost as if the air itself as being torn in two.  The air seemed to pulsate outward from his fist, racing for the enemy.  The blast seemed to be on a straight collision course with the figure, when suddenly; it lowered its cannon and curled up into a ball.  The sonic wave passed harmlessly over it.

            "Damn, I guess Samus _is_ as tough as they say," Shawn said.  He pulled Maria and Rogue to their feet as the Samus look-alike uncurled from its position and began that slow advance once more.  Shawn jumped when Sam crashed back to earth; back first, protecting Rahne from harm.  The two got up, both of them blushing for all they were worth.  "Guys, I think that it's time for a little hardball," Shawn suggested, plugging in his earphones.  Sam and Rick moved so that they were in front of the girls, serious expressions on their faces.

            "Well," Rick said jokingly, "I always wanted to know what it was like to be in a video game."

            "Except there's no resetting this game if we lose," Sam replied in a sober voice.

            Kitty shook her head despairingly.  "Men.  Don't you like, realize that I can, like phase us all through the door.  Shawn looked over his shoulder and flashed her a fanged grin.

            "But this way is _so_ much more fun!" he laughed.

            Up in the control room, Beast was working furiously to override the block on the system and get the students out of the DR.  Most of the other students were now present and so was Lance of all people, who had come to take Kitty on a lunch date.

            Kitty and Shawn had both asked the professor (Read: begged, pleaded and even threatened) to allow Lance to come over to the Institute, providing he notified them that he was coming first.  It had finally taken Kitty saying she would take over any and all cooking duties at the Institute, as well as Shawn saying that he could be held responsible for anything Lance started, but Lance was now allowed to visit.  The most widely held view was that the threat of Kitty's cooking had been the deciding factor in this decision, since no one had taken her up on the offer.

            "Isn't there some way to get them out of there?" Lance asked.  Logan growled at him.

            "For the twentieth time in as many seconds Rock Head, **NO**!  We're trying our best and we should have them out soon."  As he spoke, Beast gave a triumphant "AH-HA!"  Logan turned and looked at the scientist.  "You got something Hank?"

            "I believe that I've found the problem.  A Trojan horse program that seems to have tied in directly to the hologram system.  I'm exposing it right…now!"  As Beast said now, two things happened.

            One, the hologram of the ship disappeared, revealing that the floor had merely shifted around so that there was a large hill, which had been the fin of the ship.

            Two, the form of Samus seemed to blur, and then stretch, as the orange turned to green, except for small portions of the body, and the yellow separated and lengthened into stripes.  When it was done, the tiger Logan had seen last night was standing there instead.  It seemed to look around, suddenly unsure of itself before giving a soft growl and beginning to back away from the mutants.  Everyone who was seeing this was frozen in shock.  "Scratch?" Shawn whispered.

            The tiger, Scratch, turned and began running full tilt towards the small drone jet that had masqueraded as a starfighter during the hologram and leapt towards it.  In mid-leap, he seemed to explode into yellow sparkles, which were absorbed by the drone's infrared eye, which it used to receive and send data during training exercises.

            "Ummm…I wasn't the only one who saw that, was I?" Lance asked.

            "That depends, did you see a big green tiger with yellow stripes just get absorbed into that drone?" Scott asked.  Lance nodded.  "Then yeah, we all saw it."  As the two of them spoke what were perhaps the first, and possibly _only_, non-threatening words to each other they had ever spoken, Beast had began typing furiously on his console.

            "Hank, what are you doing?" The professor asked.

            "Following its data trail.  That thing was the Trojan horse that began this entire…" he trailed off as he saw where the program had stopped.  He looked at Xavier.  "Charles, that program came from _Cerebro_!"

            "And I think I know who put it there and how to get it out," Shawn said from the entrance.  He and the others had exited the DR post hast, and were now entering the observation deck.  "All I need to do it is for Cerebro to be cut off from the rest of the mansions systems and the internet, and access to Cerebro's main console.  If this is who I think it is, then I already have the necessary program to stop it."  Everyone just stared at him.  Logan was the first to voice what everyone else was thinking.

            "What the hell do you know about computers Scales?"  Shawn just looked at him.

            "Enough.  I'll be right back with the disk that I'll need."  With that he turned and sprinted down the hall towards the elevator.  Logan and Hank looked to the professor, as did most of the students.

            "Charles?" Beast asked.  Xavier sighed.

            "He seems to know what this is, but Hank, you and I will supervise this scheme of his."  He looked at the assembled students.  "Until further notice, all Danger Room sessions are cancelled.  I would appreciate it if you all found something to do outside for the remainder of the day."  Rousing cheers greeted this announcement.  "However, there will still be sessions held outdoors should it take more than a day to fix this problem."  Everyone's face fell, except for Logan's, before everyone went there own ways.  Shawn came back a few seconds later, holding a disk in one hand.

            "Got it!"  Beast nodded from his keyboard.

            "And I just finished isolating Cerebro.  Just follow me to the mainframe console."  Shawn followed after the scientist and the professor.  Beast took a look at the disk in Shawn's hand.  It was nothing special, just a blank disk.  "What exactly will this program do?"

            "If I'm right, it'll drive the problem right out of Cerebro."  Shawn replied confidently.

            "Will it have any effects on Cerebro's programming?"  The professor asked.

            "Absolutely no effect at all."  Xavier nodded, and pressed a button on his chair, opening the door in front of them.  Inside, was the Cerebro console.  Shawn strode up to it, and ignoring the helmet, opened the disk drive and slid the CD into the drive.  He closed the drive and waited for a moment.  A small window popped up, asking what to do with the disk.  Instead of selecting run program, he told it to run it as an audio disk.

            "This is an audio program?!" Beast exclaimed.  Shawn nodded, and pulled out three pairs of earplugs.

            "Trust me, you'll want these," he said, plugging his ears with one pair.  Beast and Xavier dubiously took a pair each.  As soon as they had stopped up their own ears, Shawn hit a final key on the board, starting the program.  A song began to waft from the speakers.

            I love you…

            You love me…

            Before the song could go any further, the screen of the console began to glow a bright vibrant blue.  Suddenly, a form erupted from the screen, landing solidly on his feet in front of Shawn, who had backed away from the screen expectantly.  Hack was clutching at his ears, a look of pure horror and pain spread across his features.

            "Turn it off!" he shouted, "For the love of God; _turn_! _It_! **_OFF_**!"  Shawn calmly reached around the boy and clicked the mouse, stopping the song.  Hack uncovered his ears, and looked around, his eyes locking on Shawn, who had a waiting look on his face.  He was tapping his foot expectantly, arms crossed.  Beast and Xavier were still attempting to comprehend what had just happened.  Hack gave a wry chuckle and scratched the back of his head.

            "Heh, hey boss, how ya been?"

            "Hack, I want you to pull anybody you let loose in there _out_ of the mansion's systems.  _Then_ we'll talk about how I've been."  Hack sighed, and turned towards the intercom that was set into the wall of the room.

            "Biker, Scratch, come on out guys, the jig is up."  The intercom began to glow a combination of red and yellow, before two figures, one enshrouded in yellow light, the other in red.  The glow faded to reveal Biker and Scratch, both of whom looked a little guilty.  "You know the drill guys," Hack said.  He snapped his fingers, and the two of them erupted into small particles of red and yellow light.  The particles came together in Hack's outstretched hands as small orbs, each one a little larger than a large grape.

            "I believe that the two of you have a bit of explaining to do," Beast managed to stutter.

-A rest Stop Near the New York Border-

            Tom stopped his jeep, and got out to stretch his legs.  As he moved, he caught sight of the note Mozart had left behind when he had jumped ship.  He reached down and plucked the paper from it's place.  He read it, and smiled.  "Keep those kids on their toes bud," he said to himself.

            Here's what the note said.  "Dear Tom, when you find this, you'll be well away from the Institute.  I've decided to stay behind in Bayville.  I've found a few reasons to stick around, and keep myself busy, from things I've heard and seen around town.  I'll keep in touch."  It was signed with a pawprint.

---To Be Continued---

Well, there ya go.  More info on Hack's background and powers next chapter, plus we find out what Mozart meant in his note to Tom about finding "a reason to stick around".  Until then, Read & Review


	18. Strange New Friends

Take the Long Way Home

        Here's chapter 18!  Let's see what Mozart has planned for the town of Bayville.  And let's find out what the deal with Hack is.  Plus; a little Duncan torture when Biker goes to town!

Andivari- Thank you sensei, I have learned well.  Yes, but there's more to those two than meets the eye.

L1701E-Yeah, but only barely sane.  "_HEY_!  _You_ try being friends with a spirit and two ninjas and see how much of _your_ sanity lasts," Hack protests.  Quiet or I'll cut off your internet privileges!  "You don't have the _balls_!"  Try me.   And I'm probably going to use a few of your ideas in my story, especially the sugar one.

marie lebue-  There will be some Rick/Tabby in a little bit, and plenty of Shawn/Maria next chapter

Animeluvr1- As long as Shawn gets to kick serious ass, it's all good with me.  I think you can get whole, frozen tunas from Alaska, but I'd have to check back with you on that.  Well…I wouldn't say I'm _outshining_ you guys, but I'd like to think that I'm just as good. And does that PS mean I can use the 'Saga'?

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- You _know_ you have problems when you refer to a super model from Paris as a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Chapter 18-Strange new Friends

            "Now let me see if I've got this right," Logan said, massaging the sides of his head.  He seemed to be developing a migraine.  "You," he pointed at Hack, "Are one of Scales' old friends from back where he comes from, who saw the footage of him on TV and decided to check up on him."  Hack nodded.  "And those two," Logan pointed to Scratch, who was in his smaller cat form without the armor; currently being given a tummy rub by Storm, and Biker, who was sitting backwards on one of the kitchen chairs looking supremely bored, "Are two computer programs?"  Hack nodded once more.  "Hank, as long as you're getting a drink for yourself, could ya get a shot of whiskey for me?"  Logan looked at Biker again, who stared back, then purposely blinked the eye in the middle of his helmet.  "On second thought, make it a shot of tequila," the Canadian moaned.  Biker just went "Feh," and got up from his chair.

            "I'm gonna see exactly what the hell there is to do in this town, boss," he called over his shoulder as he left the room.

            "Just don't go killing anybody," Hack replied.  Storm and Xavier stared at him.  "What?  I can't tell him what to do anymore."  Beast leaned forward at this information, sliding a shot glass and a bottle over to Logan, who caught it and slung it down his throat with the flair of a Mexican bandit.  Storm chose this moment to look up from where she was petting an ecstatically purring Scratch.

            "Doesn't it bother anyone else that a seven foot tall, three-eyed demon look-alike with a tail and two _very_ large guns just zoomed out of the gate?"  Hack and Shawn traded looks.

            "No one knows that he came from the Institute, right?" Shawn said.  Storm nodded. 

            "Than what's the problem?  He won't kill anyone," Hack laughed.  'I hope.'   Beast leaned in and spoke up.  Logan had discarded the glass and was now drinking directly from the bottle.

            "What did you mean when you said that 'I can't tell him what to do anymore'?  I would assume that, since he is merely a computer program, he would have to follow your orders."  Hack shook his head.

            "Before Shawn left, I had started working on a project that would give programs like viruses and disrupter programs a learning AI.  When I was reformatting Biker from his original viral state, I integrated the algorithms to see what it would do."  He smiled.  "Apparently it was more successful than I could have hoped.  It gave Biker, and later after I upgraded him, Scratch as well, a full consciousness and will.  Technically, they're as alive as you and I.  They can just be broken down into their program forms, enabling them to infiltrate the net."  The professor, who had been silent up until now, spoke.

            "Are you sure that this isn't just another aspect of your powers Mr. Lutz?  They may seem alive, but they _are_ just data after all.  Your powers may give them the semblance of life, but they are not truly alive.  I sense no thoughts from them."  Hack gave a smile at this.

            "Can you sense any thoughts from me either sir?" he asked sweetly.  The professor frowned and closed his eyes for a moment.  He opened them once more, an astonished look on his face.  Beast and Storm gave him an apprehensive look, and Logan put the bottle down and gave him a searching look.

            "Somethin' wrong Chuck?"  Xavier shook his head.

            "I felt, almost the exact same thing I felt from Biker.  It was a sort static, I couldn't comprehend.  Almost as if…"  His eyes lit up.  "It couldn't be!" he exclaimed.

            "Couldn't be what Charles?" Storm asked, absently rubbing at Scratch's ears.

            "His mind has been completely altered by his mutation.  I can't sense anything because I can't "read" his minds language anymore… he's thinking in computer code!"  Hack was starting to look a little annoyed.

            "I'm still here ya know," he snapped.  He shot a look at Shawn.  "Hey professor?  Would it be alright if Shawn showed me around a little?"  The professor nodded absently, having engaged Beast in a debate about this new type of mutation that they had unwittingly discovered.  Logan was back in his bottle, and Storm had left to see to her garden, Scratch following after her, weaving between her legs, but never tripping her up.

            "I hear you've been busy," Hack said as the two left the kitchen.  Shawn began to reply when the front door opened and Kitty and Jaime came in.  Kitty was looking well pleased with herself, and Jaime was sulking.

            "Hey J-man, why the long face?" Shawn asked.

            "Kitty took my pixie sticks!" Jaime pouted.  Shawn swung around to tell Kitty to give them back, when she shoved them into his hands.  They were the extra-extra-_extra_ jumbo pixie sticks, each one a little less thick than a baseball bat.  There were seven of them total.  Hack whistled.

            "_That_," he said in a respectful tone, "is a _lot_ of sugar."  Kitty snapped out of her pleased trance and noticed the newcomer.

            "Like, hi!  Are you like, a new student here?"  Hack looked at her for a moment before his eyes lit up in recognition.

            "Kit-kat 135, right?" he asked.  Kitty nodded confusedly.  "I thought that inflection sounded familiar.  I'm Hackman Fever!  We met in a chat room about three weeks ago.  I was the one who sent you the cyber whoopee cushion?"  Kitty turned and looked at Shawn in bewilderment.  He laughed.

            "Guys, allow me to introduce an old friend of mine from back home, Jon 'Hack' Lutz," he grinned slyly, "Otherwise known as the Dot Hack virus."  Kitty's jaw dropped in disbelief.  Jaime piped up then, having found the conversation taking an interesting turn.

            "Don't you mean the _creator_ of the Dot Hack virus?"  Shawn shook his head while Hack grinned.

            "Nope little guy, I _AM_ the virus," Hack made a face, "Except for the part about wiping the hard drives, _that_ was Biker's fault."

            "Biker?" Kitty asked weakly.   Shawn grinned.

            "Kitty, remember that tiger that we saw in the Danger Room?"

            "How could we forget?" Tabby's voice rang out.  Everyone looked up to see Tabby hanging over the rail of the stairs.  Rick ambled up from the opposite direction.

            "Hey, who's the new guy?" he asked.  Shawn sighed and shared a look with Hack.  The look said "It's gonna be a _looong_ day if we have to explain this every five seconds".

            "How about we get everyone together and I'll tell you guys all at once?"

            Outside, Remy watched the scene through the window.  He had observed the strange figure that had left the Institute on the even stranger motorcycle, tail flying about behind him, and had wondered.  Now there was another new person on the grounds.  He sighed and looked through the leaves of the tree he was perched in, and smiled fondly, Rogue was beneath him, reading another one of her novels.  Impishly, he dropped a leaf in her hair, chuckling lightly.

            When it landed, she brushed it away irritably, and scowled up at him.  He gave her one of his most charming smiles and waved.  Her scowl deepened before she went back to her book.  Farther away, the man in red watched the interplay between the two with little interest.  He had seen such things countless times before, and it had either ended happily ever after, or, more often than not, with one or both parties dead.  It made no difference to him.

-Brotherhood Boarding House-

            Coyote took in the dilapidated structure at a glance, noting that beneath its shabby exterior was still a strong frame.  'Perhaps these kids are the same,' he thought to himself.  He thought back on what had moved him to make the decision he had.  'I guess that it started with that fight when Tom and I got here.  Two of them have incredible hidden potential, and the girl has a bit of power that, if she learned to properly focus it, would make her an even greater force on the battlefield.  That silver prick may pose a bit of a problem, but the big guy has a gentle soul beneath a rough exterior.  They need guidance, and that's one of the things I'm supposed to do, guide those that need it.'  Finishing his mental prepping, he stepped up and knocked at the door.  Lance opened it, and his eyes immediately became suspicious.

            "Who are you and whadda ya want?" he demanded.  Coyote gave him a reassuring smile.

            "Relax kid, I aint here to hurt anybody.  I came here to see you actually, you and that frog kid.  I want to make you an offer."  Lance began to close the door in his face.

            "Whatever you want us to do for you, forget it!"

            "Kid, it's not what I want you to do for me; it's what I want to do for you."  Lance stopped the door just short of closing it.  "I'm a friend of Shawn's, and he told me about you guys.  I decided that I wanted to meet these two interesting individuals."  He gave Lance a small grin.  "I've seen the two of you around, and I can see potential for greatness, right there below the surface."  At that moment, Wanda walked up, Todd close on her heels.

            "Who are you and what do you want?!" she demanded.

            "This guy says that he wants to train me and Toad," Lance said, opening the door so they could see Coyote better.

            "Did father send you?"  Coyote shook his head.

            "No, I'm somewhat of a free spirit," he gave a small grin, then looked at Lance somberly.  "When you use your powers, you feel a great deal of pain, right?"  Lance nodded, looking skeptical.  "You have a deep bond with the earth, but you deny this bond.  You cut yourself off from your center of power, and when you try to employ that power, you cause yourself pain.  My training would allow you to do much more than create simple tremors."  At this point, Lance was staring at him in astonishment.  Coyote turned to Todd.  "And you, young toad, you posses the ability to become a great warrior, if you put your mind to it.  There is a great deal of potential hidden below the surface in you.  I could teach you to tap that potential."

            Pietro, who had been listening unobserved, spoke up now.  "_Toad_?!  That little wart farm couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag."  "Besides," he sneered, "What would a _human_ know of mutants?"  Lance looked sharply at him, but Coyote stepped in.

            "You think that you're better than me?  My people have known fear and oppression just as much as yours have.  Ever heard of the Ghost Dance massacre?" Coyote slipped out of 'wise-man teacher' mode, one eyebrow rising.  Pietro sneered.

            "Can't say that I have.  And I _know_ that I'm better than you."  He attempted to zip past the spirit to prove his point.  Coyote calmly stuck one foot out, and tripped him up.  Pietro landed flat on his face.  Coyote shook his head in mock pity.

            "Pride comes before a fall," he quoted.  Toad blinked.

            "Who _are_ you, yo?  And how did you do that?"

            "Call me Coyote.  And all I did was follow a simple rule of fighting.  Keep your eye on the enemy.  I didn't actually see him, but I read his body language and figured out from that which direction he was heading in, and when he started.  I could teach you how to do it if you like."  Lance looked from Toad, who looked excited, to Wanda, who looked wary, but intrigued, to Pietro, who looked about ready to explode.

            "Huddle," he called.  The four of them huddled up, and began to whisper fiercely amongst themselves.  Coyote leaned against the porch railing and closed his eyes, a rapid-fire planning session going on behind his closed lids.  'They'll accept; I can feel it.  But I'm going to need to find a source of income.  From what Shawn told me, Lance is the breadwinner right now.  In order to train to his fullest, he'll need to cut back on his work schedule, which means that I'll have to find another source of income.  I heard something about a 'Mystique' who paid the bills for the 'Hood from Tabby, maybe she left some spare cash lying around somewhere.'

            His musing was cut short by a rumble in the distance.  He opened one eye, and peered in the direction the sound was coming from.  There was a dust cloud forming on the horizon.  The four 'Hood members broke their huddle to come out and see what was going on.  In a second, the source of the dust cloud came into view, and Wanda's jaw dropped, while Toad began to laugh his head off, joined by Coyote, Lance and Pietro.

            The cloud was being caused by the entire jock population of Bayville High, running at full bore.  Duncan was in the lead, screaming at the top of his lungs, "_RUN YOU SONS OF BITCHES, **RUUUUNNNN!!!!!**_"  Hot on their heels was Biker, cackling madly and waving one of his pistols in the air.  One of the jocks, deciding to make a break for it, tried to run off the road.  Biker took aim, and fired. ***BLAM*** And suddenly the road had a brand new, two foot deep pothole about three inches in front of the run-away's foot.  He got the message and got back in with the rest of the pack.  They continued onward, Biker revving Behemoth's engine every once in a while to keep them on their toes.

            "Andile`, andile`!" Biker shouted as he went, copying a certain Mexican mouse.  He bowed in his seat as the Brotherhood gave him a standing ovation.  Then he was gone.  Coyote turned to the 'Hood members.

            "You still haven't answered my question."  Lance held up a finger.

            "Just a minute, I want to fix that image in my mind for the rest of my life, Duncan at the head of a human cattle drive."  He closed his eyes, still laughing lightly.

            "I think we should call that "The Running of the Jocks", yo," Toad chuckled.  Pietro nodded in agreement, his previous bad mood dissipating.  Lance opened his eyes then and looked at Coyote.

            "The final vote was three for, one against.  You can train me an Toad; but," he said, "If we think you're trying to use us for anything, you leave."  Coyote nodded.

            "A sensible plan.  But how about a trial period, just to see if you two can cut it?  I train the two of you for three weeks; if you don't think it's worth it you can kick me out.  That way I can make sure that you two can actually make the cut."  He extended one worn hand to Lance.  "Deal?"

            Lance eyed the extended appendage, and threw a look to Todd.  His friend nodded.  Lance took the offered hand.  "Deal," he said gravely.  Coyote rubbed his hands together in a pleased manner.

            "Excellent, then your training begins tomorrow.  In the mean time, there are arrangements to be made."  Pietro looked sourly at the spirit.

            "What _type_ of arrangements?" he spat.

            "This training is going to take a great deal of time, so Lance is going to have to cut back on his hours at his job."  Lance's eyes widened at this.

            "How are we supposed to pay the bills then!?!" he protested.  Then he blinked.  "How do you know that I have a job?!"  Coyote winked slyly.

            "Just leave that to me, young padawan.  Besides, it's the business of a trainer to know their prospective students.  And we'll have to see to my rooms.  Since I'm training you, I'll need to stay here."

            "But the only spare room is Mystique's old room, yo.  And she put that big old door back up when she came back for a while.  There aint no way that we can open that thing, it's tighter than Fort Knox, yo!"  Coyote grinned.

            "Show me this unopenable door.  I might know a few, 'magic words'."  The Hood members moved aside to let the newest member of the Brotherhood in.  "I like the décor, but are the pizza boxes _supposed_ to grunt like that?"  Pietro raised an eyebrow.  Mystique would have had a fit by now, but this _human_, took it in stride.  'Maybe he'll fit in after…' Quicksilver shook his head to get the stray thought out.  'If father ever heard me say anything like that he'd disown me faster than I can think!'

            Eventually the small group found themselves in front of the reinforced door.  Coyote examined it, running fingers over its surface, tapping a certain spot occasionally, his face a mask of concentration.  Suddenly he smiled.  "There's the basterd," he murmured.  He moved a few paces away from the door, and motioned for the 'Hood to do the same.  He took a fighting stance, one hand fisted, the other open.  "HEEEEE-YAHHHH!!!!!" he cried lunging forward, striking with the palm of his open hand.

            Time seemed to freeze for a moment.  Toad looked on in amazement, along with the rest of the gathered Brotherhood, as the door seemed to vibrate for a moment, then their collective jaws dropping, saw a hairline crack make its way through the exact center of the door, from the floor to the top of the frame.  Coyote relaxed from his position, massaging his hand.  "Can you teach**_ me_** to do **_that_**?!"  Coyote nodded.

            "Everything has a weakness, be it an enemy," he grinned at the small mutant, "or a door.  You just need to be alert enough to find them."  Pietro shoved past the Indian at this point.

            "Yeah, yeah; let's see what the old hag had stowed away in here."  He pushed the fractured door open and sped inside.  Lance gave his new teacher an apologetic look, then followed after his teammate.

            Inside, Pietro was going through one of the bureaus, in the room, tossing aside numerous liquor bottles.  "Looks like we drove here to drink," Lance noted sarcastically.  Toad exchanged a high-five with him.  Wanda, looking through one of the closets, suddenly recoiled from a box.

            "What's wrong yo?"  Wanda just pointed to the box.  On the side, it said 'fun toys'.  A whip, and several fairly naughty looking devices, most apparently battery operated, were sticking out of it.  Toad made an identical face to Wanda's.  "EEEWWWWW!!!!"  Coyote suddenly reached between the two of them, and plucked a checkbook from the box, not seeming to touch any of the disgusting devices within.

            "Ya know, I think that I'd prefer the couch."

-Institute-

            Shawn and Hack had gathered the greater bulk of the students from around the Institute, excluding Kurt, who had date with Amanda.  They had finished explaining their history together, and had just began to explain Hack's power, when a rumble sounded.  Tabby perked up her ears.  "I haven't heard that type of cycle before."  Hack chuckled.

            "I'd be surprised if you had.  That cycle and its rider are one of a kind."  As he finished speaking, Biker swept into view, whistling happily to himself.  Roberto's eyes bulged and he began to speak in rapid-fire Brazilian.  Everyone else was too shocked to say anything.  Biker looked around, his eyes settling on the babbling Brazilian.

            "Whas his problem?" he grunted, flopping down on the chair next to Kitty.  The valley girl recoiled slightly from this stranger.

            "Guys, this is Biker, one of the programs on my 'crack hack' team, if you'll pardon the pun.  He's a virus that I reconfigured from his more powerful form.  The Demon virus."  Biker looked at Scott, who was staring openly, or as openly as one can from behind glasses.

            "Whassa matta mama's boy, ya wanna fight?"  Scott blanched, but Hack smiled.

            "You had fun I see."  Biker shrugged, grinning.

            "A coupla guys thought they'd make fun of my tail.  I kinda took offense to that, ya know?  I thought that they could use a little exercise, so…"

            "You didn't make them 'dance' did you?" Shawn asked, casting a meaningful glance at Biker's sidearm.  The virus shook his head.

            "Nah, youse to told me not to kill anybody.  So I ran em through town.  Oh," he added, "I saw that Coyote fella that youse told me bout.  Talking wit some kids dat gave me a standin' ovation."  Rahne finally found her powers of speech.

            "Tha fella's gone to the Brotherhood?!  Why would he do somethin' like tha?"  Shawn shook his head.

            "I'm more interested in why he's even _here_."  Shawn mused to himself.  Hack sighed.

            "I think you might want to lie low for a little while bud."  He snapped his fingers, and Biker seemed to give off a red aura for a moment, before bursting into particles of red light and forming into an orb.  Hack hooked the orb onto his belt, and looked around at the stunned faces.  "Yes?"

            "Well that, like explains those tacky belts.  But what's like, with the goggles?" Kitty asked, her fashion alarm going off so badly that nearly _everyone_ could see it.

            "These babies's are my pride and joy."  He snapped them down over his eyes, and immediately the lenses began to glow.  One of them was a dark purple, small text scrolling down, while the other was blue, small intricate circles coming to life upon it.  "The blue lens is a scanner, with just about every type of scanning procedure known to man programmed into it.  The purple lens gives me a constant stream of data on my surroundings and any enemies around me."

            "COOL!" Jaime and Bobby exclaimed.  Most of the other guys looked interested as well.

            "What about that Biker thing?" Amara asked.  Hack looked offended.

            "Biker is a he, not an 'it'.  And if you mean, are there more of them, like him, yes.  But each one is as different from one another, as day is from night."  He took another orb from his belt, this one yellow.  "Here's one that the girls should be able to appreciate.  Initiate Program!" he commanded.  The orb exploded into a galaxy of bright yellow points of light, which came together to form…

            "A PUPPY!" Kitty squealed.  Indeed, it was a cute cuddly puppy.  The little thing gazed around the room with bright curious eyes, and settled on the closest interested person, Amara.  He ambled over, seeming to just be about to trip over his feet with every step, increasing the cuteness factor.  Sam looked at the pup Amara was cuddling, then looked at Hack.

            "Ah, agree it's cute ahlrigh, but what does it _do_?"  Hack gave a nasty grin.

            "Ladies, if you could put the puppy down for a moment; I'll show you why I keep this seemingly useless little mutt around."  The puppy growled cutely at his creator at the last par of the statement.  Amara set the furrball down reluctanty.  Hack whistled to the pup.

            "Show em your trick Decoy!"  The pup began to silently bulge and grow, until a huge, mean-eyed mastiff with a spike-studded collar stood in his place.  The girls all backed away, while most of the guys leaned forward in interest.

            "Now _that_ is a _dawg_!" Sam exclaimed.  Hack scratched the huge mutt behind one ear.

            "He's a disrupter program, like Scratch.  Biker is a virus I 'recruited' and I've got a few other friends on me as well.  But the majority of them are weapons and upgrades for the various programs I've got."  Scott's face creased into a smile.

            "Well, it's nice to have such a valuable addition to the team."  Hack made a time out sign as the others started to agree, and began to debate where he would be staying.  They ignored him.

            "Guys."  No one noticed.  "Guys!"  Still no one noticed.  He sighed and detached a yellow orb from his belt.  "Initiate program," he whispered.  Instead of exploding, the orb stretched and changed shape until it was a nice sized airhorn.  Shawn and Rick, who had paid at least _some_ attention to the hacker, covered their ears.

***_PHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*_**

            Everyone spun around to glare at him.  "What was that for!?" Bobby asked.  Hack glared.

            "You guys are all assuming that I'm going to be _staying_ here.  I just wanted to come and see how my old buddy was doing.  After that I'm gone."  Everyone, with the exception of Shawn was looking shocked at this announcement.  A green cat bounded in then, and proceded to curl up on Decoy's back.  Scott's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before…

            "Why _wouldn't_ you stay?!  You need…"

            "To learn how to control my powers?" Hack laughed.  "I've got more control in my little pinky then half of you have collectively!"  He started to cackle a little, as Shawn very calmly reached back and… *_WHAP!_* Slapped his best friend right up-side the head.  "Thanks pal, I needed that," Hack laughed, massaging the back of his head.  Shawn smirked and leaned back, crossing his arms.

            "Feh, don't mention it."

            "But…but mutants should like, stick together!" Kitty was still stuck on the fact that Hack was refusing to join.  Hack shrugged.

            "Sorry, but the only team I'm ever gonna be a card carrying member of is the Triad

---To Be Continued---

            Bet that was a surprise!  Who coulda seen this turn of events!  What type of training does Coyote have in store for the 'Hood?  And what will Hack do while in town?  And will the X-Men try to recruit Hack?  Find out next chapter!  Until then, Read & Review!


	19. Motorcycles And Midnight Flights

                                Take the Long Way Home

            Chapter 19, almost to the big two-oh!  *Hack comes in* "You cut off my internet access!  Now I'm trapped here!"  *Vegeta snorts* "Welcome to my world kid."  *He looks at me*  "I don't suppose that there's any way in HFIL that I could get that tape from you without being one of your muses?"  Let me think…how does no sound to you?  *He gathers a large wad of energy in his hands* "Like you have a death-wish."  Touch me, and a copy of that tape goes straight to your wife the same nanosecond!  *He stops and lets the energy dissipate* "You don't have the…"  Hack was the last one to say that to me.  Look what happened to him.  *Hack is battering against a forcefield that I've erected over every internet capable device in my little pocket dimension, effectively trapping him.  He breaks down and starts to bawl like a two year old.* "Point taken."

L1701E- The idea you had earlier, you mentioned it in chapter nine of "Misfit Cannonball Run", I just called it the sugar idea because that part of it kinda stuck in my brain.  I knew that, I just forgot!  And I'll see if I can find some way to work Virus into the plot.

marie lebeau- Coyote's gonna teach them all a variety of stuff, but he's also going to teach each of them different thing as well.  That's gonna be in the next chapter, along with one last permanent character being added to the cast (Unless I decide otherwise later on ^_^).  But I'm not going to spoil the surprise of who it is!

Animeluvr1-I believe I've said this before, I'm shtoopid.  I'm not that quick on the uptake.  You need to use plain English when addressing me.  I think you get the idea, I aint to bright in some aspects.  Freddy didn't vote because Freddy wasn't there.  Funfunfun indeed.  And a kid in my class spells his name that way, Jaime instead of Jamie.  I just got confused!

Andivari-I thought that it would be a nice twist, and it's opened up a few plot possibilities that I wanted to use.  And think what's gonna happen when Ol' Buckethead finds out! Coyote-"I'm gonna hand his magnetic ass to him if he tries to start a throwdown with me!  Keyword there? _Tries_!"  O-o-okay, who let him into the sugar!?

LW- Yeah, I thought that it would be best if Hack stayed a loose cannon.  Besides, there's a little plot loop that should prove _most_ interesting in a bit that I've decided to throw in, combining it with the suggestions of L1701E.  It'll come to light in a bit.

moezy-chan- Thanks, Hack's power is something that just hit me, and I decided to run with it.

"AAA"-talking

'AAA'-thought

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- Contrary to popular belief, a barrel full of monkeys isn't fun at all; and is, in fact, quite horrifying.

Chapter 19- Motorcycles and Midnight Flights

            "So how long're you gonna stay Jonny-boy?" Shawn asked his friend.  The two of them were currently on the rooftop, along with Rick, who was strumming on his guitar, jotting down or changing something on a blank sheet of music that he had.  Hack lay on his back, flipped his goggles down over his eyes and pressed a button on one of the straps.  They morphed into a pair of Matrix-esque mirrored sunglasses.

            "Ah, I dunno, a day or two at the most.  I wanna find out why Coyote's here.  Who're these 'Brotherhood' fellas anyway?"

ytrtytyt

            "They're another team of mutants, answer to some psycho called Magneto and an, I quote, "shapechanging bitch" called Mystique.  Not a bad bunch though.  The only one of 'em I don't like is Pietro.  He's got an ego bigger than Slash's appetite!"  The two of them shared a laugh, thinking about the almost insatiable appetite of the third member of their club.  "But the other guys are cool.  There's Todd, Lance, Fred and Wanda.  Lance and Kitty are an item, and Todd's been trying to hit on Wanda for a while.  I gave the little dude some advice, and his campaign seems to have taken off."

            "Do you _always_ have to get involved with your friends love lives?"  He should know you by now Bahumut chuckled.  Where have you been?  Kid, theres only two other places for me to go where you won't notice me; and your subconscious aint exactly a primo vacation spot.  I've been playing Tic-Tac-Toe against Smaug.  He's pretty good For three _days_?!  Hey, you haven't ngfthfthgfyhtreeded me for a while  Yeah…I guess, but still…  Awwwww! Did ya miss me?  Don't push it pal  Uh-huh, sure, whatever  Shawn proceded to pick up the verbal conversation without missing a beat.

            "Yes; yes I do.  It gives me something to do besides training."  Hack grinned as Rick chimed in.

            "What about all the ogling you do of Maria?" he called.

            Shawn blushed a bit as he snapped, "Can it Ricky!  Besides," he added slyly, "You've been doing some looking yourself, at a certain klepto, hmmm?"  Hack was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

            "Sounds like the two of you have a level five case of the "crush virus".  If you like them so much, why not try to make a move in their direction?"  Rick stuttered a bit, clutching at the sheet of notes he held.  Hack noticed and grinned again.  "Ah, I see.  The old "serenade em by moonlight" scheme.  Wassa matter? having trouble coming up with lyrics, or melody?"  Rick hung his head a little.

            "Both," he murmured.  Hack got up and went over and slapped him on the back.

            "Relax, I got just the thing to help you and Crush with your respective girls."  So saying, he produced a white orb from who knows where.  "Initiate program!" he commanded.  The orb stretched out into a book nearly as thick as Freddy's biceps.  On the cover was a simple triangle, with a different Japanese symbols, or kanji, at each corner of the figure.  Rick peered at the symbols for a moment.

            "What's that?"

            "The symbol for the Triad.  The left corner has the symbol for strength, the right symbol means cunning, and the top one means heart.  They respectively represent Slash, myself, and Crush.  I'm the brains, Slash is the brawn and Shawn's the heart of the team."  He flipped the book open and began to rifle through the pages.  Most of the pages were a diagram with notes.  Those were identical, in looks, to the plans that Tabby had caught Rick and the others with earlier.

            "What is that thing anyway?"

            "Oh just one or two," Hack remarked idly

            "Billion," Shawn cut in.

            "Pranks, plans and codes that we've come up with since the Triad was formed.  The remotely workable ones anyways," Hack finished, as he stopped with his finger on two separate pages.  One was titled "Moonlight serenade", while the other was called "Carpet Ride".

            "Okay fellas, these are two plans that Shawn and I came up with if we ever got girlfriends.  I haven't used any of these on _my_ girlfriend so far, but I keep them around, just in case."  Shawn looked at him.

            "You got a girlfriend?  I figured that any girl would run screaming from your ugly mug," he said dryly.  Hack handed the book to Rick for a moment, then put Shawn in a headlock and gave him a noogie.

            "You're confusing my face with _your_ hideousness!" he laughed.  Shawn easily pulled out of the headlock and shot a half-glare half-laugh at his friend.  Hack took the book back from Rick, and settled against one of the chimneys.

            "Alright guys, I guess that you can use all the help you can get.  Rick, I think that the serenade will work for you, and Shawn can take the flight plan."  Rick looked questionably at the two.

            "Are you sure that this'll work?  I don't want to kill any chances…"

            "Any chances for _what_ Shaggy?"  Rick spun around in shock to find Tabby coming towards them.  Her face had a closed look, making it impossible for him to read her mood.  He began to stutter a bit, but regained his cool.

            "A prank that we're planning to pull on Scott." As he said this, her face cleared, and she smiled.  "What did ya come up here for anyway?  Not just to check up on us I assume."

            "I got a proposition for ya Shaggy.  Meet me in the garage at eleven I got something that I think you'll enjoy."  Rick considered the proposal for a moment, then nodded his consent.

            "I'll be there," he declared.  Tabby nodded, and with that, she turned and sashayed away.  Shawn looked at his roommate and friend.

            "You do realize that she's gonna want you to do something dangerous, probably illegal; and more than likely going to get you in a _shitload_ of trouble with either Logan, Xavier, or both?"  Rick just stared after Tabby as he replied.

            "Some things are worth that much trouble."

            "Just checking."

            Any further conversation was cut off, as Kurt ported up on the roof, landing on the top of the chimney  Hack was leaning against.  "Let me guess," Hack said dryly, waving some of the fumes away, "Kurt, right?"

            "Ja, und you must be ze friend of Shawn's zat has upset Scott so much."

            "Hey, he was warned not to try and tell Biker not to pop wheelies near his car.  Is it my fault that he decided that it would look better with tire tracks running from end to end?"  Hack, deciding that Biker should be fine inside the Institute, had let him loose and the virus had begun showing off his cycling skills to some of the students.  The three of them had been the ones egging the virus on the most, so they had received the brunt of Cyclops' anger, which was the reason they were hiding on top of the Institute.

            "And Decoy chewing up his shoes wasn't your fault either?" Rick asked slyly.  Hack's eyes shifted from side to side for a moment.

            "Maybe."

            "_Any_vay, Storm told me to tell you zat dinner es almost ready."  Having delivered his message, he "BAMF"-ed away.  Shawn got to his feet, followed by Jon and finally Rick.  They headed downstairs, Rick through the rooftop entrance, Hack and Shawn respectively jumping from ledge to ledge and gliding to the ground.

            "So," Hack said conversationally between jumps, "You gonna. Go through. With it?"  He was referring to the plan he had pointed out to his old friend.  Shawn scrunched his forehead for a moment, before he shrugged.

            "It's nuts, but nuts is what I do best at.  Yeah; I'll do it!" he declared.

            Dinner that night was a strange affair.  Well; stranger than usual at the Institute.  Biker had insisted on being allowed to eat with the rest of them, claiming that "Just cause I'm a computer virus don't mean that I can't eat real food!"  He and Logan, who claimed that his earlier nervousness had been a side effect of his hangover and was now perfectly fine with the virus, were currently engaged in seeing who could eat the most hamburgers.  So far Biker was in the lead, twelve to seven.  Logan, Shawn and Hack were the only ones who didn't seem at least a little bit afraid of the virus; everyone else seemed to cringe a bit if he came within two feet of them.  Maybe it was the grey skin, the three green eyes, the fangs or the tail.

            Decoy and Scratch were there as well, in their smaller forms, picking up table scraps that the girls (And a guy or two) were happy to sneak to them.  Even Rogue was infatuated with the little furball that was Decoy, scratching him behind the ears a time or two.

            "So, Mr. Lutz, I've heard that you don't plan on staying here at the Institute?" The professor asked halfway through the meal.  Hack nodded, not looking up from the (to him), serious business of eating.  "Then what do you plan to do, if you don't mind me asking?"  Hack shrugged.

            "Ah, I dunno.  I'm not the type of person to stay in one place much, without a good reason.  I'm a wanderer, always looking to see what's over the next hill."  Biker snorted.

            "Wanderer-schmanderer, you just like puttin' the kibosh on e-criminals."  He went back to the contest, grabbing another burger.  Hack shrugged.

            "That too."  Kitty looked down towards the wiry hacker.

            "But like, why do you have to leave all of a sudden?  Couldn't you like, stay a while and at least see what the Institute has to offer?"  Shawn, who had been discreetly eyeing Maria, judging what her reaction had been to the hurried note he had pressed into her hand a minute before dinner, grinned at the valley girl.  He was also pleased to note that Maria seemed to be preoccupied.  'Good, she's read the note,' he thought.

            "Why Kitty, whatever will Lance say?"  He, Rick and Tabby were the majority of the handful that seemed to find his joke funny.  Scott just scowled and bit into his burger viciously, while Logan gave a low short growl and Jean frowned in annoyance.

            "It's not like, like that!  I'm just sick of being the only tekkie in the Institute!"  Hack shook his head in sympathy.

            "We're a lonely breed, we connoisseurs of everything internet related.  But," he continued, "You seem to have done alright for yourself, I'm sure that you'll be fine when I leave."  He began to ramble on about the loneliness of the true tekkie and how no one understood them.  Shawn threw a pleading glance to Biker, who was closer to Hack than he was.  The virus caught the look and gave a slight nod.  He didn't take any attention away from the contest, but his tail whipped upwards, and whapped his boss right upside the head.  Everyone else gave the virus a look of gratitude while Hack rubbed at his scalp.

                                                            -Later that Night-

            Shawn and Rick waited until they were sure that the rest of the mansion was asleep, before both of them threw off the covers and got out of bed.  Rick was dressed in his jacket and boots, with faded jeans and a t-shirt, while Shawn had opted for a plain gray t-shirt and a fairly clean pair of jeans without shoes.  If all went as planned, he wouldn't need them.

            They threw a look at the clock.  It was a quarter till eleven.  They traded looks and each went their separate ways; Rick towards the garage, Shawn towards the roof.

(Animeluver, I'm gonna borrow this next part from you, slightly modified, cause it's better than anything that I could come up from.  If you get mad about it, feel free to flame me without fear of retribution in any shape or form.)

            Rick got to the entrance of the garage to see Tabby standing there, wearing jeans, boots and a flowered t-shirt under a light jacket.  He grinned.  "Nice, but where's the _leather_?" he laughed.  Tabby made a face.

            "Kitty doesn't approve of "the mindless butchery of defenseless animals"," She mimicked.

            "Tell her its pleather, she'll buy it.  So…what did you want exactly?"  He looked around, his eyes lingering on Logan's collection of bikes.  Tabby gestured towards one in particular.

            "We're gonna take the Mongoose for a ride.  I hadn't been able to take it out; at least not until now."  Rick nodded.

            "So what makes me so special?"  Tabby grinned her impish grin.

            "Two people means half the blame for the parties involved.  Besides, you're the only one that seems to be the type to actually _want_ to do this.  Scales aint a bike person and mini-Logan is a little too temperamental; repressed hormones, ya know?"  Rick felt a half grin begin to form at the mention of that particular pair.  He slung one leg over the cycle, as he felt Tabby mount up behind him.

            "We won't get in _too_ much trouble, will we?"  He felt rather than saw her shake her head.

            "Scales and Bobby pranked just about everyone in the Mansion when they got here.  Bobby had to wax the X-jet once, and Shawn got off pretty light too, so I'd say we should be just fine."  With that, Rick kicked the Mongoose into life.

            Shawn scanned the length of the roof, the full moon giving him more than enogh light.  No sign of Maria.  He sighed, then perked as a light scent reached his nose from behind him.  Lately he had noticed that his senses of sight and smell had improved tremendously, almost on par with Maria and Logan's, but not quite.  It was a conflicting scent; it spoke of both battle and a tenderness that was only now being allowed to emerge.  It was Maria's scent; he had practically memorized it the second he had realized what it was.  "You're early," he said.

            Maria stepped into view from behind a chimney, looking both a bit wary and more than a bit puzzled.  Shawn found the combination strangely appealing.  Easy kid, you need to move slow and follow the game plan if you want to get to where ya wanna go Bahumut cautioned.  _Yes, this is one that needs to be courted slowly, else she may run.  Even _I _see that_ Smaug added.   Thanks guys, but I think I should be able to handle this Shawn sent back.

            "What did you mean in your note, "I have something to show you"?" Maria demanded.  Shawn smiled at her. (AN: WARNING, WARNING: FLUFF ALERT DEAD AHEAD!  IF YOU DON'T LIKE FLUFF, TURN BACK _NOW_!)

            "Tell me something Maria; have you ever wondered what its like to fly?"  He knew that, in fact, she did. He had seen her watching him and Sam as they practiced aerial maneuvers with a combination of envy and longing.

            Surprise flickered across her face for a moment, followed by a tentative glimmer of understanding, before being hidden beneath a mask of indifference.  Shawn found that he rather liked to see the play of emotion across her face.  "Maybe," she said, crossing her arms in a defensive gesture.  'Something odd is going on here, he seems up to something,' she thought.  As she watched, his wings unfurled from his shoulders as his tail curled on the ground behind him.

            "How about I show you what its like to fly?" he gave her a grin, but there was a look in his eyes, a question that seemed to pull at her.  'Why would he bring me up here this late at night, just to ask me if I wanted a ride?  Unless… maybe he feels something for me beyond camaraderie?'  She gave him a small shy smile and a nod.

            He came up to her and gently lifted her into his arms, not bothered by the extra weight that her adamantium skeleton provided.  He held her closely, discreetly sniffing her hair, finding the scent not unlike that of daisies, unscented otherwise, since she couldn't stand perfumes and scented shampoos.  As he leapt off of the edge of the Institute, he saw and heard the Mongoose leave the Institute grounds.  'Good luck buddy,' he thought, not knowing that, at the exact same time, Rick was throwing a glance into one of the side mirrors to see the shape of Shawn taking off and thinking the exact same thing.

            After a few moments, Shawn began to gain altitude.  Eventually, he got above the cloud cover.  He heard and felt Maria's gasp of astonishment as she caught sight of the cloudscape presented to her, bathed in moonlight.  It was like some gracious spirit had created a fairytale land, all castles and spires bathed in moonlight, just for this night.  Who knows, maybe Mozart put in a good word for us somewhere Bahumut sent wryly.  Shawn ignored him, focusing on the girl in his arms.

            "Its…beautiful," Maria whispered.  Shawn looked down at her face.

            "Beautiful," he echoed.  Maria looked up at him, and saw what he was looking at.  She blushed, and then raised her hands to her cheeks in astonishment.  Shawn smiled gently and bent down to whisper gently in her ear.   "I think that the blush makes you even more beautiful.  I didn't even think that that was possible until a moment ago."  This caused her blush to deepen even more, as he chuckled softly.

            He tipped his wings, and began to lower, until the two of them were barely skimming over top of the cloudbank.  He tipped until the edge of one wing was trailing in the cloud, then tipped the other way, so that he and Maria were within reach, the trailing wing bringing a pale wisp of vapor along with it.  Maria reached out wonderingly and trailed her hand through the cold substance, giggling a bit at the feeling.

            They seemed to just drift along for an eternity, the two of them in a magic void.  Occasionally there would be a break in the cloud cover, and they would see the lights of Bayville laid out beneath them, tiny moving light indicating the cars that went about their nightly business.  Neither one of them found any reason to speak, letting the cool night wash over them.

            Eventually, they turned back, and came to a soft landing on the balcony leading to her room.  Shawn gently set Maria on her feet.

            "I…thank you," she said in a low voice.  Shawn said nothing, a strange look in his eye.  Now or never kid Bahumut sent.  Shawn nodded imperceptibly.  He advanced until the two of them were barely inches apart, their breath mingling as they breathed.  Shawn ran a knuckle down her cheek, before he began to inch his face towards hers.  She closed her eyes as she felt a light pressure on her lips, and felt his hand on the small of her back, gathering her to him.  She gave a confused little whimper, but didn't make any move to resist.  After a moment that seemed to last an eternity, they separated, for lack of oxygen more than anything else.

            In his head, Bahumut was doing the Cabbage Patch, while Smaug watched in amusement.  GO SH-AW-AWN, IT'S YO BIRTHDAY, GONNA PARTAY LIKE IT'S YO BIRHTDAY!!!!!

            Maria reached up and touched her lips with her fingertips, a wondering look in her eyes.  "Why did you…?"  He gave her a gentle smile.

            "It was a gut feeling," He placed another light peck on her cheek, "And I tend to go with my instincts."  He looked a little sheepish now.  "Ummmm, would you like to go and get something to eat sometime?  Maybe go and see a movie?"  His voice had a pleading tone to it.  She nodded slightly, still looking a little bemused by the kiss as she quietly opened the door and stepped into the room, giving him a smile before she turned and was gone.

            Shawn took off from the balcony and headed towards the men's wing of the mansion, doing several victory loop-the-loops on the way.  He landed on his own balcony, absorbed his wings and tail back into his body, and entered his room, sighing as he massaged at his shoulders.  They were already starting to throb, and he probably wouldn't be able to move his arms much in the morning, but it had been worth it.  I'll say kid, that was your first kiss! Bahumut congratulated him.

            As he got ready for bed, he glanced at the clock and blanched.  It was nearly two in the morning!  He sighed and climbed into bed, just as Rick stumbled through the door.  They traded looks.  "Soooo…how'd it go?" Shawn asked.  Rick smiled tiredly, but gave thumbs up.

            "And you?" he returned.  Shawn just gave him a shit-eating grin.  "That good huh?"

            "Even better," Shawn responded.  Rick climbed into his own bed, and turned off the small light that Shawn had had on.

            "Night," he said.

            "Night."  All through the conversation, Sam hadn't stirred once.  As Shawn slipped into sleep, he began to dream of flying, with Maria held safely in his arms, sharing a sweet kiss.

            ---To Be Continued---

            WOW! This has had to be the fastest update I've ever done!  Next chapter, we find out what Coyote has in store for the Brotherhood, as well as Fred's reaction to the newest 'Hood member.  Plus a little Duncan torture when Hack and Decoy go for a walk.  And a new character makes his grand entrance into the Institute!  Who is this new fellow, and how does Logan know him?  Find out next time, but until then, Read & Review!


	20. Danger Room, Training and DEMONS!

                                Take the Long Way Home

            Here we go folks! The big two-oh!  I'll make this brief and get right to the review replies and then straight to the action!  But first…

            My friends, I have come upon a gross injustice during my sojourns through FF.net.  An author with a **_HUGE_** amount of talent has been sorely neglected.  His name is Post, and he has a two story series that has been passed over once too many times, "Between the Walls", and "The Chronicles of Ecto", both of which star an unprecedented OC by the name of Shion.  I implore you to read both stories, as he has currently begun to give up hope on them.  If we flood his Inbox with reviews, that should get him motivated again, eh? ^_^

Anon.: Thanks, I'm probably going to write more stories later on, but I'd like to finish this one first.

MCM: Thanks, I seem to be better with OC's than with the original cast!  I think you're on to something there; I'll look into it at a later date.

Descendant: You wonder what?

Animeluvr- Thanks for the pointers, I'll try and keep him more IC.  Firecrackers down the pants hmm? *I thumb my chin in thought*

marie lebeau- Yes, the Triad manual will make a few more appearances.

Padawan: Thanks man, always glad to have new readers.  And if you ever want to use Hack, Shawn, or any of the other characters I've created, feel free.  But if you want to use Rick, you'll have to ask Animeluvr1, she asked that I include him in here.

SickmindedSucker: Yes, Duncan torture _is_ fun.  Don't let Bahumut and Smaug hear you, they're staring to get egos.

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Chapter 20-Danger Room, Training and _DEMONS?!_

            Freddy Dukes was hurt.  Not physically hurt mind you, his mutation made that a near impossibility.  No it was his _feelings_ that were hurt.

            He had come home last night from yet another grocery run, to find that his friends had made a huge decision without his input.  They had allowed a human to join the Brotherhood.  True, this human had accomplished an impossible feat and had offered to train the entire 'Hood in martial arts, as well as help Lance and Wanda achieve better control over their powers through some sort of meditation.  But damn it, it was the _principle_ of the thing!  Freddy got up out of his bed and went downstairs; throwing a glare at the form that was asleep on the old couch, mumbling about cheeselogs.  When he was angry, a snack always helped.

            In the kitchen, Freddy got out a half finished sub sandwich out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen table by the light of the small bulb over the oven.  He blinked as the lights suddenly flicked on.  "There any more of that?" a voice asked from the entrance.  Fred scowled.  It was that Coyote guy.  He grunted sourly and shifted so that he was facing away from the man.  Coyote sighed and drew up a chair.

            "Listen kid, I know you're upset that your friends didn't ask for your input before they made this decision.  You probably think that I've got some cock-and-bull plan to take over the world, using you guys as tools."  Freddy turned and shot him a poisonous glare.

            "Don't you?" he asked venomously.  Coyote sighed again.

            "Listen Freddy, as far as I'm concerned the rest of the world can go to hell in a hand-basket.  The only reason that I'm doing this is because I saw some kids with the potential to be much more than what everybody said they could ever be.  I'm not gonna say that I'm gonna make every little bad thing go away, but I've seen enough people throw their lives away, just because people refused to accept that they could be more, to let you guys give up on yourselves.  And by _thunder_, if _anyone_ tries to block your path to achievement just because you're different, I'll hit em so fast and so hard that they'll think it was an act of _God_!"  Coyote banged his fist on the table for emphasis, leaving a sizable dent in the wood.  Freddy eyed him skeptically.

            "Why didn't you offer to train me though?" he asked in a quite voice, surprising both Coyote and himself.  The man looked uneasy for a moment, then gave a sheepish grin.

            "To be honest, none of the fighting styles I know would suit you.  Besides," he continued, "You don't really strike me as a fighter."  Blob began to object angrily, but Coyote steamrolled over him.  "True you're a force to be reckoned with, but so are many shamans if properly angered."

            "Shamans?"

            "Wise men.  Most of them were storytellers, but they were also great warriors and healers.  You know, they also served as a sort of counselor for their tribes, helping them with problems that the head warriors or the chief weren't equipped to handle.  Maybe I can teach you a bit about counseling if you like.  I'm somewhat experienced with it, and you strike me as the type of person who could put it to good use."  He shot a piercing glance at Fred.  "If you're interested, I _could_ also teach you some meditation techniques, and a few katas designed for developing your speed as well."  Fred began to look interested and less wary.  Coyote stuck out his hand in the exact same way that he had done for Lance earlier that day.  "If you're willing to give a human a chance to teach ya that is," he added, grinning.  Fred gave him a small grin in return as his hand enveloped the older man's.

            "What's with all the racket yo?  Some people are tryin' to get some sleep."  Toad stood in the kitchen doorway, rubbing at his large eyes.

            "Me and Fred were comin' to terms kid, thas all."  Suddenly, Coyote assumed a slightly wary expression.  "You kids go up an get some shut-eye, you're gonna need it tomorrow.  I'm gonna step outside and get a little air before I turn back in."  The two boys nodded, not noticing his slight change in attitude, and returned to their rooms.  Coyote got up, and went out through the kitchen door.   He glared at a spot in the bushes in the backyard for a moment.  "You might as well come out; I can feel your energy from here."

            There was silence for a moment, before the bushes rustled and the man in red stepped out.  "Impressive spirit, but I guess this is to be expected of the great Coyote."  Coyote took in the man's weapons, giving special attention to the sword and gauntlets, before replying.

            "What's your purpose here?  I warn you, if you intend harm to any in the community; you'll have to face me," he paused and seemed to think something over.  He grinned viciously.  "Unless of course you're here to take out that Kelly guy; be my guest as far as he's concerned."  The man shook his head, somehow managing to keep every single one of his long, snow white hairs in place.

            "I've come here in order to receive help.  I've merely been taking in 'the lay of the land' as you would say."  Coyote nodded in satisfaction, hearing no trace of deceit in that cool, even voice.  Amber eyes locked with sharp green ones, and the spirit gave a start of surprise.

            "You're Sparta's boy, aren't you?"  The stranger's only answer was a curt nod before he turned with a swirl of his blood red trench coat and left.  "Don't hurt the instructors at the Institute _to_ badly!" Coyote called after him, softly enough to not reach the open windows where his new students slept.  The man nodded once, never stopping as he went.

           Logan had just got back from carousing at his favorite bar, and was going over the security tapes before he turned in.  Suddenly he froze and stopped one of the tapes while he set the other on a loop.  One of them showed Rick and Tabby riding out of the Institute gate.  On.  His.  Harley.  **_MONGOOSE!_**  His _BABY_!  The other one had him seeing red for a few moments, for about the same reasons.  It was Shawn landing on the balcony with Maria, and then…The Kiss.

            He growled.  *SNICKT!*  There would be **_HELL_** to pay!

            Shawn was treated to his _favorite_ wake up call of all time, the "covering of your mouth and nose so that you can't breathe" trick.  His eyes snapped open, to see a grim faced Logan hovering over him.  "You an' Shaggy in the DR in three Scales, or so help me…"  The grizzled feral left the threat hanging in the air as he uncovered Shawn's mouth.  Shawn shot an inquisitive glance over to a semi-semi-alert Rick, who shrugged and mouthed an "I don't know".  Logan left then, heading towards the girls wing of the mansion.  The two boys dressed quickly and silently, before making their way to the DR, meeting up with an irate looking Tabby as they went.  It was nearly five in the morning.

            "Okay, I can see why you're here," Shawn said, pointing at Tabby and Rick, "But I can't understand how Logan figured out what I did."  Rick sighed.

            "Tell me something, do the words _security cameras_ mean anything to you?" he asked sarcastically.  Shawn thought a little, before…

            "************************************************CENSORED **********************************************"

            "I guess not," Tabby laughed as they arrived at the entrance to the DR.  Shawn had been turning the air blue since the elevator.  It had sounded like he had gone through his entire vocabulary of curses, twice, before he had started inventing new ones on the spot.  Rick had pulled a pencil and small notepad from god knows where and had been taking notes at a furious pace.

            The three of them entered the DR, to find…nobody.  Rick looked around a little, scratching his head.  "This…," he began, "does not bode well," he finished as the doors shut and barred themselves behind them.  The speaker above them crackled for a moment, before Logan's voice came over it.

            "Listen up kiddies.  The three of you have earned a special treat; my extra special, extra early, _extra_ intense Danger Room sessions; for the next, two, **_weeks_**!"  As he spoke, several of the most dangerous obstacles in the DR began to activate.  Shawn, Rick and Tabby shared a look.

            "Awwww _Fuck_!" they chorused.

                                                            -Ten Minutes Later-

            Rick and Tabby were back to back, keeping the different hazards from overwhelming each other.  Rick's arms were beginning to ache, and Tabby was beginning to slow down as well.  Shawn had been separated from them early on by a squad of mini-jets.  "How do ya think he's doing?" Tabby panted.

            "He's a ninja, right?  He should be fine."  As Rick said this, the ninja in question came into view.  He had his arms over his head and was running like mad from the squad, which hadn't lost a single fighter.  As he came closer, dodging laser fire the whole way, the other two heard him chanting something.

            "Baddaybaddaybaddaybadday!"  He raced past them, and was quickly lost to view as a large section of the wall came out and blocked him off from view, and help.

            "Sounds like Shawn's trying out for Pietro impressions," Rick remarked as he blasted yet another obstacle.  Tabby couldn't help but laugh.

                                                            -Three _Hours_ Later-

            Kurt ported down to breakfast, a cheery smile on his face, to find Rick, Tabby and Shawn, who had all collapsed on the kitchen floor while Logan sipped at a hot mug of coffee.  "Guten-ACK!"  His cheery greeting was cut short as Shawn's arm suddenly shot up, grabbed him by the throat, and dragged him down to eye, and floor, level.

            "Kurt," he whispered in a dangerous voice, "I have yet to have my coffee; I have been subjected to pure hell for the past **_three HOURS_**; and I am currently feeling extremely homicidal.  Do you think that a happy person is the kind of thing that, maybe, might just _possibly_ push me over the edge into murder?"  Kurt nodded mutely.  Shawn released him and slumped back down to the floor.  A second later he began to snore in time to Rick and Tabby's breathing.  Kurt massaged his throat and looked incredulously at the three teens.  All of them were out cold.

            "Zey must not be morning people," he gulped.  Kitty and Maria descended from the stairs at that moment.

            "What like, happened to them?" Kitty gasped.  Kurt gave her his best "I don't know" look, while Logan whistled innocently.  The professor made his appearance, to find Hack and Kurt supporting Shawn between them, while Bobby and a few Jamies held Rick up.  Maria and Kitty were helping Tabby up.  He shot a look at Wolverine.

            "Logan, I know I've told you this before, sp please don't make me repeat myself again.  Talk to me **_BEFORE_** you punish the students!"  Hack walked in at that moment, and took quick stock of the situation.  He went over to Shawn's coffee machine, grabbed the fresh pot, and dumped three cups of sugar into it.  He stirred the mix rapidly, then poured it in three equal measures into three mugs.  He walked up, carrying all three mugs carefully.

            "Open their mouths please."  Kurt and Kitty looked a little dubious, but Bobby was only too happy to comply.  Hack poured a mug of the brew down each of their throats, making sure that they swallowed, and backed away.  "You may want to get out of the line of fire," he remarked.  "Three, two, one…"  The kids holding their friends backed off as three pairs of eyes shot open.

            "EAAHH-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  The backwash the three of them kicked up had Kitty's hair coming out of its ponytail.  Hack looked at the open patio doors the three had just, in Shawn's case literally, flew through.

            "Maybe I should have made it only _two_ cups of sugar," Hack said in a dry voice.  The twenty or so Jamies that had been created by the backwash looked at him.

            "**YA _THINK_**?!?!?!" They chorused.

            Eventually they had found Rick in the weight room, beating the living tar out of a punching bag at a speed that would have made Pietro jealous, Tabby stealing several pairs of the boy's underwear (Mostly Rick's boxers), and Shawn doing rapid-fire pull-ups with his tail in the woods.  During the search, Hack and Decoy had made themselves scarce.  Hack because Kitty, Scott and Jean wouldn't stop bugging him about staying at the Institute; and Decoy because he had made a whoopsie in Storm's flower beds.

                                                            -At the 'Hood House-

            "Alright kids, rise n' shine!" Coyote called up the stairs.  An assortment of groans and four letter words came down in reply.  Coyote grinned impishly.   "First one down gets seconds for breakfast!"  He stood back from the stairs as a pounding sound began, building until it sounded like distant thunder.  A silver blur rushed by, followed by Lance, Fred, Wanda, and Todd, who had his shirt half on, half off.  Toad was so preoccupied, he didn't notice the others stop short at the entrance to the kitchen and ran right into Wanda.  Coyote was pleased to note that his recovery time was extremely fast, fast enough that he caught the girl halfway through her fall.  The boy grinned sheepishly.

            "Sorry yo, but I couldn't see and…" he trailed off as he saw the mountain of flapjacks that were piled on a large plate, alongside a plate heaped with bacon and another of sausages.  There was even a pitcher of orange juice.  Lance looked at Coyote.

            "How did you manage to make all of _this_?!"  Coyote grinned.

            "Very, very quietly.  You kids obviously haven't had much in the way if good breakfasts if you couldn't recognize the smell of flapjacks and bacon cooking."

            Lance grimaced.  "I thought it was another dream," he said.

            Coyote smiled.  "Eat up, you guys are gonna need plenty of energy if you expect your first day of training to do you any good."  Todd looked a little nervous now at the mention of training.

            "What are we gonna have to do yo?  Somethin' painful?"  Coyote grimaced.

            "No kid, I'm not some kind of torturer.  You _will_ be sore by the end of the day though."  He smiled again.  "Now are ya just gonna stand there and look at it like its some kinda picture, or are you gonna dig in?"  The response was a rousing cheer from the Hood members as they attacked the meal.  As soon as they were through the meal, Coyote got up and stretched.

            "Alright, before we get started, Todd, we need to get you some special training equipment."  So saying, he produced what looked like thick blue wristbands.  Toad scratched his head.

            "How are these gonna help me train yo?"  Coyote handed one of them to the young mutant and grinned a bit at the look of astonishment he got.  Toad was straining to hold it up with one arm.

            "They're weighted, about ten pounds each actually.  You're gonna wear three on each ankle, and two on each wrist."  Lance looked at him sharply.

            "That's a hundred pounds!  There's no way he can handle that much weight!"  Coyote cast an appraising look at Todd, and nodded.

            "I suppose you're right." Toad sighed in relief.  "So you only have to wear one on each wrist and two on each ankle.  For now."  Toad's eyes bugged.

            "For **_now_**?!"  Coyote nodded.

            "Eventually you'll get to the point where you won't even realize that the weights are there.  At that point, if I'm still here, we'll increase the weight.  Besides," he continued, gesturing at the armbands that they hadn't noticed before, "I'm training right now."  Todd, Lance and Fred all gaped in astonishment.  Coyote had what appeared to be four wristbands stacked on one another on _each_ _arm_!  He lifted the leg of his leggings to reveal the same number of bands around each ankle.  Pietro let loose a long, low whistle; even he was impressed.

            "That's a hundred and sixty pounds," Fred whispered in awe.  Coyote just grinned and rubbed his hands together, seemingly unaware of the weights.

            "Let's get to it, shall we?"

            After outfitting Toad with his new accessories, he led the way outside, and faced the gathered teens.  Pietro just lounged on the porch.  "Okay, first off, we're gonna begin with the basics of martial arts.  I'll take you through the forms a few times, and then I'll let you try for yourselves.  After you've got the basic patterns down, Lance, you, Wanda and Fred are gonna learn some meditation techniques."  Pietro laughed from the porch.

            "HAH!  If you try to teach Freddy to meditate the big lug'll just fall asleep!"  Fred opened his mouth to retort, but Coyote beat him to it.

            "And _what_ pray tell makes you think that he'll fail?  He has as much potential as the rest of you do," he paused, "except for you.  You're to proud to ever progress beyond where you are now."  Pietro stared at him, slack-jawed.  'Did he just say that I'll never amount to anything more than what I am right now?' he thought.  Coyote shot him a look that said, "You heard right bubba-boy!"

            Coyote clapped his hands together.  "Well, now that we've cleared up everything, let's get started!  After a little while we'll take a break, eat lunch, then stop around four for the day."

                                                -A random Bayville street-

            Hack led Decoy around as the two of them took in the sights of Bayville.  Suddenly, they heard a small commotion.  Going to investigate, the two saw a blond beefy guy in a school jacket cornering a younger, pretty looking girl.  The boy was leering unpleasantly, while two other guys, jocks like their leader, appeared to be acting as bodyguards, making sure that their boss' "funtime" went uninterrupted.  Hack bristled as Decoy growled.  The girl most definitely did _not_ want to have anything to do with this guy.  As the hacker and the program got closer, they could hear some of the conversation.

            "C'mon babe, the guys and I won't hurt you. We just wanna have a little fun."  The girl scowled and tried to brush past him.

            "I know what type of "fun" you and your cronies are into, and I'm not that type of girl."  As she attempted to pass him, Duncan grabbed her arm roughly.  Hack's eyes flashed behind his sunglasses.

            "That tears it!" he muttered.  His mind went over a few possible plans Slash had come up with for situations like this, before settling on the one that promised the most fun.  Hack gave a grim smile as he whistled to Decoy.  Three short notes followed by one longer, deeper one.  Decoy nodded in understanding as he shrank down slightly, becoming less menacing and assuming the dopey look of a dog that doesn't quite realize he's stupid.  Hack looked at the three jocks, and said quite clearly, "Hey! Wanna see what my dog can do?"

            Four heads whipped around to look at him in astonishment.  "What?" the blonde asked.

            "I said, 'wanna see what my dog can do?'"  Without waiting for an answer, Hack looked at Decoy.  "Decoy, sit!"  Decoy sat.  One of the blonde's enforcers laughed.

            "Any dog knows how to do that!  Right Duncan?"  The blonde, Duncan, nodded in easy agreement, still keeping a firm grip on the girls arm.  Hack looked at the jocks.

            "One more.  Decoy, speak!"  Decoy gave two short barks.  The jocks were beginning to look annoyed.

            "Why don't you beat it scrawny?  We got "business"."  The look Duncan directed at the girl told her that she wouldn't like this business at all.  Hack merely cocked an eyebrow.

            "Last one; _promise_."  He sent a reassuring look to the girl before he shot a look towards Decoy.  "Decoy…" he pointed at Duncan and grinned maliciously. "Kill!"

            Decoy lunged forward, seeming to explode into immensity, a ragged snarl working its way from his throat.  Duncan screamed like the little girl that he was, and took off around the corner, his flunkies scattering to either side.  Decoy followed Duncan around the corner.  The girl just stood there, seemingly frozen to the spot.

            Hack, grinning like a maniac, looked around for a moment, found the spot he was looking for, and stood there.  As he did so, a siren-like scream could be heard coming closer.  "And a one, and a two, and a…" As Duncan rounded the corner, Hack threw his arm straight into the jocks path, cloths-lining him.  Decoy stopped and gave a delighted "woof".  Hack looked at the girl with a twinkle in his eye.  "I call that one my Kung-Pow Chicken," he laughed.  He and Decoy sauntered off, leaving the jock out cold and the girl frozen.  A short "OOF!" had Hack looking over his shoulder, and laughed.

            Apparently the girl had just kicked Duncan in the ribs before she went on her way.  Decoy was grinning as well, in his own way.  He had scored the seat of a hundred and fifty dollar pair of jeans.

                                                            -The Institute-

            Logan was in a bad mood.  Of course, this is usually the case, but right now he was in an even _worse_ mood than usual, having received an earful from both Charles _and_ Storm.  He was lounging at the kitchen table, reading a racing form, and giving his patented "Glare o' Death" to anyone who came in and made more noise then simply breathing.  It was a little after one, and most of the kids had gone outside to enjoy the weather.  He glanced up in annoyance at a knock from the front door.  "Somebody go get that!" he yelled.  Of course, no one was there _to_ get the door.  There was another knock.

            Grumbling about something about kids only being around when they weren't wanted, Logan got up and made his way to the front door.  As he got to the door, he tensed, catching a strangely familiar scent, one that he couldn't quite place.  He cautiously opened the door, and suddenly remembered that Murphy's Law really, _really_ hated him.  The man from Cleveland was standing on the other side of the door, waiting patiently.  "Logan-san," he said coolly.  Logan quite suddenly found himself in a situation he had rarely found himself in; complete and utter shock and surprise.  After a moment he managed to pull himself back together, but it was long enough to have the man in red lifting an eyebrow.

            "Dante," Logan finally croaked.  The man, Dante, nodded.  His expression was bland, but Logan **_knew_** that he was laughing at him! Logan bristled then.  "What the hell do you want here?!"

            "I came here for help," Dante said simply.  Logan looked taken aback by the answer, but recovered quickly.  He opened his mouth to give a retort, tensing to slam the door, when Tabby and Shawn, both apparently recovered from the mornings sugar rush and laughing at some joke the klepto had told, came from one direction, and Xavier came wheeling from the other direction.  Tabby, catching sight of the man Logan was talking to, stopped.

            "Whoa!  Hot stuff!" she gave an appreciative whistle, while Shawn just looked at her, before palming his face.

            "You'll have to excuse Tabby," he said to Dante, "but she's lost her mind and we haven't found it yet."  Tabby quite calmly rolled her thumb and forefinger together, producing a small cherry-bomb, which she tossed to Shawn.  Shawn caught it out of reflex, making a pained expression as he realized his mistake.  The small orb exploded as he raised his hand to throw it away from him, singeing his eyebrows.  The professor ignored the two, zeroing in on the man next to Logan.  He advanced, offering his hand.

            "Hello, I'm…"  Dante interrupted him.

            "Professor Charles Xavier; thought to be one of, if not _the_, most powerful psychic in the world.  I know who you are.  I am known as Dante.  Dante Night.  I've come here for your help."  He didn't take the offered hand, so the Charles let it drop.

            "You certainly don't beat around the bush, do you Mr. Night?"

            "When you're as old as I am, you tend to cut to the chase."  The professor raised an eyebrow at this one.  "And before you ask how old I am, I need to tell you that I am not entirely human.  I'm half demon, and more than four centuries old."

            Shawn stuck his pinkie in his ear, and wiggled it around for a moment.  "Whobody-heybody-whatnow?" he said in astonishment. (AN: My new favorite phrase!)  Tabby's jaw dropped.

            "He looks good for his age," she cracked weakly.

            Logan seemed to take it in stride, as if this was old news to him, but the professor seemed genuinely shocked.  "Logan is he…"  Wolverine shook his head in an affirmative.

            "A long while ago I went to Japan, as you know Chuck.  While I was there, I did a little exploring among some of the smaller islands.  Turns out it was an island I had heard about from some of the locals.  It was said to be the home of a demon, known as The Demon of the Lost Island."  Logan jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards a bored looking Dante.  "This guy was the only other person on the entire island."

---To Be Continued---

Well, there ya go.  Next time, Hack leaves, but not before leaving a little information, and a cute (kinda) but troublesome gift for a lonely Jamie.  Also, what's up with Jean after a special training session with the Professor?  And what does Dante need help with?  Find out all that and more, next time.  But until then, Read & Review!


	21. Jamie Gets A Pet!

                                                        Take the Long Way Home

Well, here's chapter twenty-one!  This time we see what happens when Hack tries to make Jamie a little less lonely.  And we find out what Dante needs help with!  Plus trouble's in the air following a special training session Jean has with the Professor.

MCM: I don't know, but I'll see what I can come up with.  Read and see.  And why don't you invest in some of my new "Anti-Lawyer spray" (Patent pending).  P.S.: here's a B.A.G. (Bad Ass Gun) to fight the IRS.

Fluffy's numba one gal- Sorry, but Inuyasha _was_ a half demon.  At the end of the series he used the shikon jewel to turn himself fully human.  His kids looked human too, but how do we know that some demon DNA didn't stick around?  Something to think about, huh?

Animeluvr1: As a great man once said: "Close, but you're way off".  Dante has absolutely _no_ connection with Slash or any of his ancestors.  Dante didn't always live in Japan ya know.  And Decoy will be staying with Hack.  Jamie will get a totally original pet… kinda.  About Starving Julius…I'm definitely going to try and get them into the story, with a few changes in the lineup of course.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by who I've selected as the drummer.

LW: Of course you like Dante!  You're the one who _created_ him!

L1701E: I got Rick from animeluvr, she actually asked me to include him.  I fully intend for Razor to make another appearance, tying it in with a little mini-drama involving Hack's girlfriend.  I think you may get where I'm going with this in a bit.  I'm gonna use that first idea you suggested to me, I'll think about using this one later on.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except what I've created myself.  And if you still feel like suing, let me introduce you to my fight muse, Vegeta.

Chapter 21-Jamie Gets A Pet!

            "So Mr. Night, tell me exactly what it is that you need help with."  The professor steepled his fingers as he looked across his desk at Dante Night, self proclaimed half-demon.

            "As I've already told you, I am half demon.  This imbues me with certain… shall we say abilities, among them an almost constant regenerative factor, as well as certain abilities I receive when I use either of these." He gestured to the sword on his back, and the gauntlets that hung from his waist.  Logan, who was leaning against the wall, raised an eyebrow.

            "How do a fancy pair of metal gloves and a big knife give ya powers?"  Dante shot a cool look in his direction, making the feral squirm after a few moments of silence.

            "This 'big knife', as you call it, contains the spirit of an ancient thunder demon.  It also allows me to tap into my demon heritage.  And these 'gloves' contain the spirit of an ancient, and extremely powerful Ifreet, or fire demon.  Unfortunately…"  Xavier leaned forward.

            "Yes?"

            "When I tap into my full demon heritage, it unleashes an unspeakable power.  I've spent every day of my life since the moment it first emerged holding that beast back."

            "So why come to us now?" Logan asked.

            "I was in Cleveland a while ago, tracking a clan of shadow demons that had developed a taste for warehouse workers when I felt a vast energy being unleashed downtown…"  Dante trailed off, turned, and shot a look at the door.  "The same energy, in fact, as the energy currently hiding behind the door."  Logan strode over and yanked the door open.

            Shawn, Tabby, Rick, Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee all tumbled inside, with Kitty escaping through the floor.  Rick looked up from the top of the pile and grinned.  "Hey Badger, what's shaking?"  Logan just growled and pointed out the door.  The kids got the hint and ran for their lives.  No one noticed a tiny black spider-like machine perched on the wall.

            All the way on the other side of the mansion, Hack, who had changed from his old wife-beater and shorts to a gray t-shirt and jeans, Jamie, Maria and most of the New Mutants were gathered around a small TV monitor, laughing their heads off, except for Maria.  She looked around in confusion.  "Why are you laughing?  They failed to complete their objective."  Ray shook his head.

            "We're laughing at the faces they made when Logan caught them," he explained.  Hack's laughter cut off as the screen suddenly turned to static.

            "Uh-oh."  He looked around at the other teens.  "I think my 'SPY-der' just got squashed (AN: Bad pun, I know).  I suggest we split up so we don't get busted."  The others quickly agreed, and the gathering split up.  Hack headed to the roof, discreetly being tailed by Jamie.

            The hacker plopped down on the roof, and took Biker's orb off of his belt.  "Might as well give him that upgrade he's been bugging me about," he mused to himself.  He pinched a section of the orb, and drew a string of energy from its surface.  He plugged the strand into his goggles, which he had pulled over his eyes, and produced a purple orb.  It changed into a keyboard with a strange pronged thing at the end of the cord.  He plugged this into Biker's orb, and began to type rapidly, computer code scrolling down the lenses of his goggles.  Jamie watched him for a moment, before he accidentally knocked a small stone with his foot.

            "Hey kid, c'mon over," Hack didn't even turn around.  Jamie walked up and sat down cross-legged next to Hack.  He stayed quite for a minute, as Hack typed; then…

            "Whatcha doing?"

            "Biker's been bugging me about giving him a power boost and making some changes to his appearance.  Keeps saying that he needs to look meaner for some reason.  So…why come up here to hang with a geek?"  Jamie looked a little surprised to hear Hack call himself a geek.

            "You're not a geek, you're really cool!"  Hack gave the younger boy a look of gratitude.

            "Thanks kid, but _I'm_ not cool, my _powers_ are cool.  Without them, most people wouldn't give me a second glance.  Excepting Sharon of course."  At Jamie's inquisitive look, he continued.  "Sharon Smith, my girlfriend.  But I call her 'Cat', cause of her powers."  As he spoke, a smaller than average orb fell off of his belt and rolled to a stop next to Jamie.  The boy picked it up and, forgetting about Hack's girlfriend and whatever powers she may have had, looked at it curiously.  Unlike the other orbs in Hack's arsenal, it was a dull gray, meaning that it hadn't had its program type classified yet.  Hack took it from Jamie and looked closely at it before smiling.

            "Ah! I was wondering what happened to this little fella."  He looked at Jamie.  "This was a project I was working on for a little bit before I scrapped it.  I had just cornered Biker, and I had to devote all my attention to converting him from his full viral form, so this guy kinda fell between the cracks."  He looked at the orb for a moment, before looking appraisingly at Jamie.

            "Ya know…this little guy isn't really suited for life in the net.  He's too young, and he would slow me down."  He paused.  "So how'd you like to have a pet?"  Jamie looked astonished, which quickly gave way to excitement.

            "Sure!"  He paused.  "What _is_ it anyway?"  Hack smiled.

           "Initiate program!" he commanded.  The orb glowed, and stretched out into a small, bipedal shape, about a foot high.  The creature chirped as he rubbed at his eyes with his clawed forearms.  Jamie's eyes were almost bugging out of his head.

            "Whoa!" he breathed.  He looked at Hack, a little concerned.  "What does he eat?"

            "Just about any type of meat, but not humans, dogs, cats or any other domesticated animal, if they're alive anyway.  But his main source of energy is electricity.  I'd suggest giving him hamburger as a special treat sometimes.  Other than that, he's cool.  And he won't attack humans when he's fully grown, that was one of the first things I programmed into him."  Hack grinned; he could see that Jamie was going to make _damn_ sure that he kept this little (For now) animal.  "So," he grinned, "whatcha gonna call him?"

            Jamie thought on it for a moment as he rubbed the little creature's head.  "Razor, cause he's as cool as Kid Razor," he finally decided. (AN: Jaime saw the news footage of the fight, and is in the first stages of hero worship towards Kid Razor.)  Hack nodded.

            "An apt name for a baby Velociraptor," he declared.  (AN: Betcha _no one_ saw that one coming!)  He got up and dusted himself off as he put the keyboard and Biker's orb away.  "Well, you take good care of Razor, ya hear?"  Jamie, who was introducing himself to the little carnivore, nodded.  "Then I guess this is bye.  I need to get ready for my date tonight.  I won't be seeing you guys for a while."

            Jamie looked up, and opened his mouth to thank the older boy, but the words stuck in his throat.  Hack ruffled the younger boy's hair, before he turned and walked down the stairs.  He paused and turned, fumbling in his pockets for a moment.  He tossed what looked like a collar with a small speaker attached to Jamie.  He caught it and looked at it.  "What's this?"

            "A translator collar.  This little guy is pretty smart, so being able to talk to him when he gets a little older might be a nice advantage in certain situations.  Just put it on him, it's already keyed to him.  And it'll stretch as he grows."  Jamie held it up, and looked inquisitively at Razor.  The little raptor padded over to his new owner, and sniffed at the collar.  He cocked his head and chirruped.  –What that?- the watch said in the voice of a small boy.  Jamie's eyes got _really_ big.

            "Whoa," he breathed.  He looked up at Hack and grinned.  Hack returned the grin.

            "To quote Shawn, 'I think this may be the beginning of a be-u-_ti_-ful relationship'," he laughed; turning in order to go and find Shawn and say his good-byes to his old friend.

            He found him in his room, plinking away at his keyboard, taking old tunes and changing them slightly, making them new.  Rick was there too, strumming on his guitar, blank sheets of music scattered around him.  Hack smiled and shook his head.  'He's never satisfied until he tries out every variation of a song, and then… he decides that the original version was the best!'  He leaned against the doorframe.  "Hey."

            "Hey."  Shawn looked up from his playing.  "What's going on?"

            "I'm heading out.  Got a hot date tonight," Hack wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis.

            "Go get 'em man," Rick chimed in.  Shawn, without turning, threw his pillow in Rick's face.

            "Hey, before ya go, I got something to ask you.  You remember that CD you gave me?"

            "Yuh huh."

            "What's it for exactly?"  Hack sighed.

            "It says what it's for right on the stinkin disk for cryin out loud!"

            Shawn ducked under Ricks return salvo, grabbed the pillow out of the air and flung it back, knocking his roommate on his back.  "Refresh my memory."

            Hack sighed.  "If you put the disk into a computer with net access, it'll run a finder program that'll send a typed message from _you_ to _me_, wherever I am on the web, or, if I'm not on the web, to my cell."  Hack grinned.  "Remember, you never know when an 'Alpha-red-thirteen' could come up."  With that he turned and left.  Rick looked at Shawn.

            "What the heck is an 'Alpha-red-thirteen'?"

            "Girlfriend captured by secret anti-government organization."  Rick digested this information for a moment.

            "Oh."  A second afterwards, a loud scream reverberated through the Institute.

            Shawn and Rick came barreling out of their room, and headed towards the screams' source.  They got to the rec room to find just about everyone in the Institute there.  Amara was in the center, along with Jamie, who seemed to be holding a squirming something close to his chest.  Jamie was protesting something loudly.  "You scared him!" he accused the princess, before murmuring some soothing noises to the little animal in his grip.  When Rick got a good look at the creature, his jaw dropped.

            "Okay, this has **got** to be a dream!" he exclaimed.

            "If it is we're all having it Shaggy," Tabby commented, coming out of nowhere.  Shawn on the other hand, noticing the conspicuous absence of Hack, had a pretty good idea where Jamie had gotten his new friend.  But before he could say anything, Beast was there.

            "Now what's all the fuss abou-_OH MY STARS AND GARTERS!_"  Shawn looked at Rick and Tabby.

            "Did he just say…?"  They nodded in unison.  "Just checking."

            "Jamie," Beast said, "Where did you get that animal?"  Jamie cuddled the little dinosaur as he answered.

            "Hack gave him to me.  His name is Razor and he's got a translator collar and he won't eat people and he eats electricity and…"  He stopped for breath as Razor wriggled out of his arms and began to pad around the room.  He sniffed at Amara before the princess could get out of his way, and chirped.

            -Loud lady-, the collar said.  Kitty cocked her head as she looked at him.

            "Ya know…he _is_ kinda cute," she said.  Razor padded over, and nuzzled at her leg with his head.

            -Nice lady-, he 'said'.  She leaned down and patted the little lizard on the head.  He stretched up into her hand, and a few of the braver girls; and all of the guys, gathered closer to get a better look at him.  "Hey, check out his claws!" Bobby announced.  Shawn and the others took a closer look.  Indeed, the little dinosaur's claws were all blunted and rounded off, even the larger ones on each inner toe.

            "He's kinda ugly if you ask me," Scott commented from a safe distance.  At least, he _thought_ it was a safe distance.  The little raptor hissed at him, and taking off at a speed that seemed to defy his slight frame, leapt into the air, closing the last  two feet, and clamped his jaws shut on Scott's hand.  All of this took less than two seconds.  Scott stood there in shock for a moment, before he began to dance around wildly, shaking his hand and yelling curses that even _Logan_ didn't know.  All the while, Razor hung on, growling gleefully, as if it was a new game.

            "**_GETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFF GETHIMOFF!!!!!!_**" Scott screamed.  Shawn, Rick, Kurt, Bobby and Tabby all exchanged glances.

            "Shouldn't ve help him?" Kurt asked.

            "He's not bleeding…" Tabby pointed out.

            "Ya, but still…"  All of them exchanged glances once more.

            "**_NAHHHH_**!" they chorused.

            "I'll tell ya right now Hank, there's no way in hell I'm taking that thing for walkies," Logan grunted, an amused smirk spread over his face.  Beast could only nod in agreement, passing a bowl of popcorn over to Dante, who took a handful and passed it to Storm.

                                                                                                -The Hood House, 2 hours later-

            Lance sat on the ground in the back yard, arms crossed and eyes closed.  It was the third day of the 'Hood's training and already they were making surprising progress.  Todd had found that he had a natural ability for martial arts, having already gotten some of the basic rules down.  Coyote had had to correct his stances far fewer times than the rest of them.

           Wanda and Lance had two hour meditation sessions with Coyote every evening, after Lance got back from his, now, part time job.  Wanda had begun to use her powers in ways that the elderly witch who had trained her could never have foreseen, such as being able to use her powers without throwing a visible hex-bolt.  All she could do right now was make things hover a little bit, but with Coyote's training, both physical and mental, she would undoubtedly improve rapidly.

            Lance's control of his powers had begun to increase as well.  With each meditation session, it seemed a mental wall was coming down.  Just yesterday, he had been able to create a small mound of dirt to trip Pietro after he had stolen his spare guitar strings.  His smile quickly turned to a grimace of pain as a walnut bounced off his skull.  "Rocks don't smile," Coyote chastised from his position on the back porch.  

            The man had a bowl of walnuts next to him, and every so often he would reach into the bowl, pull out a nut and crack it with his fingers.  If he saw that one of his students wasn't following the exercise, he would throw a nut at them.  It was never a hard throw, and it served more to annoy than to cause pain, but it was enough.

            Lance scowled, but quickly dismissed the feelings and resumed thinking of nothing.  Coyote had told them that the best way to meditate was to think of yourself as a rock, not moving, not thinking, not seeing, only feeling the outside world, as well as your own inner self.  Surprisingly, enough, even Pietro had grudgingly consented to at least _try_ the training.  Not surprisingly, he was getting whacked with a nut every other minute.

            Coyote smiled to himself as he watched his students practice.  Wanda and Lance were both meditating, with small patches of earth rippling around Lance every so often, and small ripples forming in the grass around Wanda as she concentrated.  Something concerned Coyote though.  Every so often, the girl's face would scrunch, as if she was reliving something horrible, and the ripples would increase in intensity, but they only lasted for a second or two.  He knew that the boys knew something about this; Toad looked especially pained when ever these moments occurred.

            Coyote smiled as he thought of his favorite pupil.  Not only was the boy a fast learner in the martial arts, but he also seemed to posses a great deal of knowledge when it came to mechanical devices. Not only that, he had a pranking streak almost as large as Coyote himself.  All in all, he showed great promise.  He, Fred and Pietro were practicing the katas he had shown them earlier under his watchful eye.  As he thought, he sensed an energy coming towards him, one that he had become quite familiar with over the centuries.

            A tiny man, almost the size of Coyote's thumb popped into existence on the railing.  "Good day Fur-face," he said in an astonishingly bass voice.  None of the Brotherhood appeared to have heard him.  Coyote inclined his head in a nod.

            "Puck," he answered, handing the pint sized fairy a walnut.  He took it, and pulled it apart easily, before feasting on the nut inside.  "So," Coyote asked, "What brings you from Oberon's kingdom?"  Puck scowled, biting viciously into a piece of walnut.

            "My liege has felt some unknown force moving in the human's realm, a dark force as ancient as the sea and nowhere near as forgiving.  He sent me to find out anything I could about it."  Coyote began to look concerned, but carefully, masked it, automatically chucking a walnut at Pietro.

            "So why come to see me?"  Puck grinned.

            "We've missed you at the games lately.  Loki is insufferable, and Grim just doesn't have the heart to deal anymore.  And don't even get me started on Mercury!  All in all, the poker games haven't been as much fun without you there to help me liven them up."  As he finished, Puck looked sharply towards the front of the house.  "Someone comes, and they don't appear to be a well wisher."

            "Show me please."  Puck produced a small drop of dew, and began to chant in a strange language.  The dewdrop seemed to glow for a moment, before it projected an image into the air.  It was Mystique, in her Raven Darkholme disguise, driving down the highway.

            "She will arrive in three days.  She has no great power, and will not pose a threat to you directly.  But she wishes to take these children, and use them in a dark plot," Puck said in a grave voice.  Coyote's eyes hardened, before a crafty look came into them.

            "So she wants to use my students eh?  Well, I think that a little bit of a lesson is in order, don't you old friend?"  Puck's answering grin was positively vicious.

            "Tis been far too long since I've had a chance to prove what fools these mortals be," he grinned.

                                                                                                            -The Institute, the day after-

            Jean Grey, sat back, and opened a book that she had been reading for a time.  It had been awhile since she could just sit down and read in peace.  First it had been the arrival of Mr. Night, who insisted on being called either Dante, or the codename Rick had suggested after hearing he was half demon.  
  
                                                                                                              *FLASHBACK*

            "Look," Rick said to the others gathered around him, "I'm saying that demon's come from hell, right?"  He and some of the other New Mutants, which Shawn had been 'demoted' to after a series of pranks on Logan, were gathered in the rec room with Dante, who was lounging on one of the sofas, reading.  He had a surprisingly large collection of books, some of which were quite old, and worth quite a bit of money, but hey, meditating and practicing with his weapons when he's already a master at them gets real old, real fast, right?  The kids were discussing what Dante's codename should be, after he had declared that he didn't really care, providing it wasn't something completely and totally stupid.

            Shawn nodded, "Yeah, but I still don't see where you're going with this."

            "Well…" Rick said, "I've heard hell referred to as the great inferno.  And there's the whole 'Dante's Inferno' thing too.  So…how about Inferno?"  The last part was directed towards Dante.

            The man nodded his assent, not even looking up from his dog-eared copy of… 'Dante's Inferno' of all things!

                                                                                                         *END FLASHBACK*

            After Dante, had come Razor.  Jean had to suppress a grin.  It _had_ been funny.  After a while, they had managed to pry the little dinosaur's jaws apart and had found Scott's hand perfectly intact.  Further investigation revealed that he could lengthen his claws and teeth to normal razor sharpness if he so desired.  Well, maybe lengthen wasn't the right word exactly.  It was more like they unfolded, kind of like a switchblade knife.  His teeth did the same thing.

            Eventually, the professor had decided that Razor could stay, and he could sleep in Jamie's room, with the understanding that Jamie was the only one responsible for the carnivore.  Should he neglect the animal, Shawn would be asked to contact Hack in order to have Razor returned.

            As Jean settled back, the Professor's telepathic voice rang through her head.  Jean, please come to my office.  Jean got up, sat her book down, and went to Xavier's office. Wondering what he could want.

(AN: Animeluvr, I took this from you, it's better than what I had planned.  Hope you don't mind.)

            "You wanted to see me professor?" she asked, walking in.

            "Yes Jean. I want to take you to the next level of your training. I believe you're finally ready."

            "What would it be?"

            "I want to show you the Astral Plane."

            Jean gasped. Only the most able telepaths could go to the Astral Plane. It was a real honor that Xavier considered her ready. She sat down in the chair across from his.

            Suddenly, the world around them seemed to melt, and there was only white. An endless expanse of white.

            Jean cried out, as her advanced mind processed what exactly the Astral Plane was. It was a dimension of perspective. A glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and how it related to her, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot that says "you are here."

            Her mind seemed to explode at the sheer vastness of it all. Her hands shot to her temples as her eyes screwed shut and her teeth ground together in pain. Her brain was shutting down in response to the unthinkable size of it.

            Xavier immediately pulled her out and wiped memory of the event. She was NOT ready. Definitely not.

            Across the Institute, Bahumut and Smaug shifted uneasily within Shawn's mind.  Since both of them were composed of mental energy, they had a link to the Astral Plain.  They had felt a mind nearly shutting down, overcome with the vastness of the Plain.  And they had felt something else, something that didn't bode well at all.  A consciousness had stirred; a dark mind within a mind.  Bahumut strode into the Nexus, and looked up at a frowning Smaug.  His own face mirrored that of his 'roomie'.  "You felt it too, huh?" he asked.  The red-winged dragon nodded.  "Whatever that thing is, we don't have enough power to fight it," again a nod.

            Bahumut paced the room for a moment, before he snapped his fingers "Wait a minute!  Shawn has a power store in his section of the mind, and it has more than enough power to boost us up to a fighting chance!"  Smaug looked a little concerned.

            _"Doesn't he need that energy to anchor us?"_  Bahumut nodded.

            "Yeah, but all he really needs is a small sliver of power, not much more that two percent of what he's got.  And since he can't use it…"

            Outside, so to speak, Shawn was involved in a game of treetop-tag against Maria.  And she was cheating.  Whenever he got to close, she would rush in, and tickle him under the joint where his wings joined his shoulders.  It was his Achilles' heel, so to speak.  As he tried to catch his breath after another fit of laughter, he 'heard' something. Kid, we need to talk to you for a second Bahumut sent.

            Fine, just talk as I go

            Smaug and I just felt something shifting on the Astral Plain, and we think something big may be coming.  Something that you can't take on physically

            But you can?

            In a manner of speaking.  But neither one of us is strong enough to do this, at least without a power boost

            You want the power I've got stored in my section of the mind, right?

            Got it in one.  You don't need to do a thing; I just need your permission to divvy it up between the two of us.  And you'll still retain about two percent of what you have right now

            Do it.  If this thing creeps you out that much, go for it

            Done, and done

            With that, Shawn returned to the game.

            (AN: Again, this is next part is taken directly from Animeluvr)

            Scott shot a glance at Jean from his place at a library work table. After coming back from the professor's office, she had seemed cheerful. Uncharacteristically so. He got up and walked over.

            "Jean, what did the professor want?"

            He got no response. Jean's eyes were glazed over.

            "Jean?" he trailed off, poking her.

            "Huh? What? Oh, Scott, hi. What's up?"

            "I could ask the same."

            "What are you talking about?"

            As Scott opened his mouth to speak, Bobby stuck his head into the room.

            "Hey, Logan's gone out for a few days, and Mr. McCoy's letting us have an all night movie marathon!"

            The two got up and walked to the Rec Room.

            Eight hours later, all the X-Men were in the Rec Room, passed out on the floor. Scott and Jean had been lucky enough to nab a couch for themselves.

            Scott stared at the glow of the TV, the only one still up. It had taken seven hours for them to get to the movie HE had wanted to see, and he was NOT falling asleep. NO WAY.

            Suddenly, Jean began to stir in her sleep. He looked down at her.

            "It never ends… it never ends…" she moaned, tossing and turning.

            He raised an eyebrow as she stopped moving and went back to a seemingly blissful sleep.

            Scott shrugged and went back to watching his movie, promptly forgetting about it. A half hour later, he was asleep, too.

---To Be Continued---

            If you've read the Pyror Saga in "Bittersweet", you know what's coming.  There's going to be a surprise ending though, I can assure you of that!  And what madness and mischief will descend on Mystique when she gets to the 'Hood house?


	22. Blue Eyes, Meet Blue Wings!

                                                        Take the Long Way Home

            Chapter 22 concludes what I began last chapter.  Plus Kitty and Rick meet Coyote.  Can't wait to see what their reactions are?  Then read on.

Soulstress- *Salutes* Aye-aye!

LW- Hey man, thanks.  And don't worry, they may try and get to me, but I always bounce back.

AzureDragoness- Sorry it took so long.  And put the spatula down…slowly.

Animeluvr- Thanks.  Yeah, Todd is Coyote's favorite.  AWWW, how'd you guess?!  But don't _tell_ anyone!  I don't think a live Lockheed will make an appearance; you'll just have to settle for the stuffed one.  And Razor falling in love with Lockheed?!  I don't think so; he's to smart to not be able to tell the difference between a stuffed animal and a real one.  But I like the attack idea.  Good idea about Lance too, I'll use it.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer: iugflukfhujfkyvyk(Make sense of _that_ evil lawyer people!)

Chapter 22- Blue Eyes, Meet Blue Wings!

(AN: Again, just about half of this chapter, up to a point, is Animeluvr's work.  I've changed and added a few things though.)

            It was a normal day at the Institute.

            "I can't believe Tabby's in jail AGAIN!" Rick laughed.  
  


            As normal as it gets in a household of mutants, one half demon, and an infant Velociraptor anyway.

  
            "This is what, the seventh time?" wondered Roberto.  
  
            "Shut up."  
  
            "You MUST have broken some sort of record by now" Kitty said, leafing through the Guinness Book of World Records.  
  
            "I'm just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"  
  
            "Sure Tabby"  
  
            The girl glared, grabbing something from Rahne's hand. She rolled.  
  
            "Ha! A four and a two! And the streak continues!" Rick shouted triumphantly.  
  
            Tabby looked at her little car Monopoly piece in dismay.  
  
            "Can you quiet down? I'm TRYING to read" Jean yelled at them from behind her book.  
  
            "Talk about your cold shoulders. . ." Bobby trailed off, and the game continued.  
  
            The next day, the new recruits were enjoying a game of Battle Tag out on the front lawn. Jamie ran backwards, trying to keep his back away from Ray, who was chasing him, who, in turn, was being chased by Razor. Suddenly, he slammed into Jean. She was covered in a pile of Jamies in a matter of seconds.  Ray and Razor skidded to a stop just short of the mass.  
  
            "Jesus, Jamie, will you WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING?!" Jean shouted, getting up and stalking off.  
  
            "Did you see that?" one of the Jamies asked Ray.  
  
            "See what? Queen Jean acting pissy?"

  
            "No, no, not that. . . I could have sworn her eyes turned blue for a second there."  
  
            "Musta been your imagination, squirt."  
  
            With that, the two returned to the game.  Razor however, stayed where he was, watching Jean's retreating back.  If he had had hackles, they would have been standing on end.  Something was wrong with the Red Lady, his instincts, programmed through they were; were screaming at him to be on guard.

                                                                                                                        *That Night*  
  


            Scott lay down in bed, thinking of recent happenings. Jean was acting really strange lately, and he was fairly sure it wasn't her 'time of month', so to speak. He slipped on his sleeping goggles and closed his eyes.

*Jean's Dream*

            Scott wondered where he was. He had been dreaming of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and now, bam! It was gone. Well, at least he wasn't going to eat part of his pillow again…that had been embarrassing.

            He wandered around the dreamscape until two voices wafted to his ears. Jean and… Jean? But while one was using her soft, melodic voice, the other was growling. Scott realized he was inside Jean's head because of their bond. He followed their (her?) voice(s?).

            "They're out to get you."

            "No, they're not! They're my friends!"

            "Friends? With you? No, they're friends with Miss Popularity. The perfect one. Not you."

            "You're wrong!"

            "Am I, Jean? Just give in. I'm stronger and you know it."

            "Get out of my head! Leave me alone!"

            Scott froze, but then realized she meant the other Jean, not him.

            "Leave you?" the other Jean laughed. "Leave you? I AM you!"

            "You're not! You're all in my head. I can make you go away."

            "I'd like to see you- ah."

            "What?!"

            "It seems we have an intruder."

            Scott felt himself being pulled into a vortex of pure mental energy. Suddenly, the two Jeans were standing right before him.

            "Scott!" the one he assumed to be 'true' Jean called out.

            The other one frowned. She had forgotten of the mental bond with the boy. He went up to her.

            "Look, whoever you are, I don't know you and I don't want to. Now get OUT of Jean's head, NOW."

            "Don't know me?" the evil one laughed incredulously. "You've known me since you were seven years old."

            "No." Scott snarled. "I've known JEAN since I was seven. Not you."  The evil one smirked, and Scott noticed a key difference- this other Jean had blue eyes.

            "Fine, if that's how you want to play it. Call me Madelyne Pryor. Now, YOU get out."  Scott looked at Jean, who had been silent. Her eyes were glazed over again.

            "I said GET OUT." Madelyne glared.

            Scott stood firm.

            "Fine." Madelyne lifted her hand, and Jean fell to the floor, hands covering her temples in a vain attempt to stop it.

            "IT NEVER ENDS!" she cried out in anguish.

            Madelyne brought her hand down again, and Jean slumped to the floor, silent. The blue eyed monster turned and faced Scott, and he felt as if he were slipping. . .

            Scott sat straight up in bed.

            "Oh god."

            The next morning, Scott kept a constant lookout for Madelyne. He informed the others of what was going on, but none believed him.  
  
            That is, until he and the other X-Men walked into the kitchen for lunch.  
  
            Suddenly, Jean's jaw clenched, her eyes wide and staring. "It…it …" she stammered.  
  
            'It never ends,' Thought Scott, 'Isn't that it, Jean? It never ends.'  
  
            But to his surprise, she said something else. "It's coming. She's coming. I can't stop her!"  
  
            Scott rushed to her side. "Fight her, Jean! You have to!"  
  
            "Can't… too strong… I can't… control her…"  
  
            Scott looked up at the other students. "Someone go get the Professor!" he barked. Bobby bolted from the room.  
  
            "Jean?" Kitty asked, inching closer.  
  
            Jean stopped shaking, and looked up at them with cool, confident blue eyes. "I am not Jean."  
  
            "Who are you, then?"  
  
            The redhead opened her mouth to respond when Scott spoke.  
  
            "Her name is Madelyne Pryor. And she doesn't belong here."  
  
            "You always have an answer, don't you Scott?" Madelyne sneered. "Ah yes, Scott, fearless leader. The responsible one. You're not worth my time, or anyone's time for that matter. Being Cyclops is the only thing that makes you worthwhile. Not even goody two shoes Jean Grey gave you the time of day unless you were suited in spandex."  
  
            "You're lying" Scott said, his stomach rolling with unease.  
  
            "And who are you to judge the truth, Scott? Who are you to tell me what I know, what to do?"  
  
            "Shut UP!"  
  
            "I'm not Jean, but who, Scott, are YOU? Ah, Scott, pole up his butt, they say you live for the fights- you're hiding in them."  
  
            "From what!?"  
  


            "From facing your failure, facing the loneliness, facing the fact you live a lie."  
  
            Scott opened his mouth to protest, but Madelyne wasn't stopping.  
  
            "Of course you live a lie- and we all know it. You're always preaching to us not to be numb, not to give up, but that's how you thrive. You pretend to create and observe, but all you're doing is detaching from feeling alive."  
  
            'Don't listen to her.' Scott instructed himself. 'She lies. She's mixing it with the truth to take me down- well I won't fall easy. It isn't true.' But a little part of his mind was saying 'it could be a LITTLE true. . .'  
  
            "Scott, maybe ve should-"  
  
            "And Kurt!" Madelyne said, turning. "There's so much self-hatred in you I can TASTE it. I wonder, Kurt, how many secrets are hiding behind that carefree facade of yours? How many times, Kurt, were you almost burned at the stake?"  
  
            Kurt cried out and fled from the room.  
  
            "You BITCH!" Ray yelled, charging his fists.  
  
            Madelyne turned to him. Her face twisted, as if to resemble someone else. "Get out of this house, you disgusting mutie" she said, her voice a low rumble completely not her own.  
  
            Ray stumbled back. "…Dad?"  
  
            "I can't believe I raised a freak." She growled in that foreign voice.  
  
            Rick stepped forward, Shawn at his side. "Hey, whoever you are, why don't you shut the hell up?!"  
  
            She glared at him, and you could almost see her will pushing outwards to strike him.  But Shawn intercepted, stepping in front of his friend and raising his arm as if he wore a shield.  There was a sudden clang, as if a something had hit something metallic.  Shawn gave Jean a grim smirk, his eyes turning reptilian.  He opened his mouth to speak, but the voice that came from it was not his own.

            "I think that's enough of _that_, girly," Bahumut snickered.  Rick and the others drew back from their friend as a misty form began to take shape around his shoulders.  They formed into transparent blue wings.  Suddenly, Shawn seemed to take a step forward, while standing still at the same time.  A ghostly, jean clad leg emerged from his own leg, followed by an armored torso emerging from his chest.  Finally, Bahumut stood before the astonished teens, stretching.  On his right arm he carried a circular shield, while a short sword rested in the scabbard on his right.

            "What the hell are you supposed to be!?!" Jean snarled.

            "An old friend," Shawn smiled, his eyes turning back to their normal shape.  He looked at the form in front of him and gave him a thumbs-up.  "Props on the entrance Bahumut."  His eyes changed back as Bahumut spoke through his mouth.

            "Thanks kid," the half-dragon returned the thumbs-up.  "Now," he said, returning his attention to a fuming Madelyne, "Do you want to give up now, or do I have to get medieval on your blue-eyed ass?"  Rick couldn't suppress a snicker as the ghostly dragon-man crossed his arms, looking both bored and pissed at the same time, and pulling it off beautifully.

            "What makes you so confident?" Madelyne sneered.

            "Simple.  I, have backup.  You, do not."  The X-men that were still present were beginning to get whiplash from turning their heads back and forth so much.

            "Backup?! HAH!  What type of backup could you _possibly_ have?" She swung her arm to indicate the X-Men.  "These rabble?  I could dispose of them easily!"

            Bahumut looked over his shoulder at Shawn.  "Ohhhhh _Smmmmaauugggg_," he called in singsong voice.

            Ray looked at Kitty in apprehension.  "Wasn't Smaug the dragon from 'The Hobbit'?" he asked.  She nodded.

            As he spoke, yet another form began to take shape in the air in front of Shawn.  This time, it looked like a cavern opening, two huge, crimson eyes visible within its depths.  A deep rumbling growl emanated from Shawn's throat as his eyes turned crimson for a moment.  Bahumut smirked.  "So," he asked in a conversational tone, "Do you _really_ wanna rumble?"  As he 'spoke', Bahumut drew his sword, pointing the transparent blade's tip meaningfully towards Jean/ Madelyne.  The possessed girl stared at him, struck speechless by her fury.  Rogue took this opportunity to march up and get into her face.

            "Look Jean, I know you're still in there, and you better get it together!  This bitch is nothin'!  You just can't take this lying down!  Now get your rear in gear and kick her the hell _out_!"  Madelyne stared at her.  Not only was Shawn presenting not one, but _two_ direct challenges to her power, but Jean was beginning to revolt inside of her head.  Luckily, the professor rolled into the kitchen at that moment.  He gaped at the sight of the insubstantial cavern mouth and Bahumut, but quickly focused on the problem at hand.

            "What's going on here!" he demanded.

            "It's Jean!  She's not herself!" Scott cried.  Madelyne opened her mouth, but Bahumut got up into her face, phasing through Rogue, before she could even draw a breath.

            "Say one fucking _word_ and I will _personally_ go in there, rip you the hell out, and_ feed_ you to Smaug!"  Madelyne stared at him for a moment, and then began to laugh crazily.  Bahumut turned and looked at the assembled throng.  "This gal's about as stable as the Tower of Pisa's foundations!"  With Bahumut providing a distraction, the professor entered Jean's mind and, with Jean's assistance, wiped Madelyne out of existence.  As they entered the real world, Jean took one look at the misty figure in front of her, and fainted.  Bahumut at least had the good grace to catch her.

            He looked at the unconscious girl in his arms, and shook his head in disbelief.  "Well I'll be damned; I can interact with the physical plane now!"

            He handed Jean off to a worried Scott, before beginning to fade away.  Shawn however, had other ideas.  "HOLD IT!" he snapped.  Bahumut stopped in mid-vanish.  Smaug's cavern entrance however, had already vanished.    "You are gonna explain this to these guys, because I hardly understand it myself!"  Bahumut looked at all the confused and slightly fearful faces around him, and sighed.

            "So you kids want the long story, or the 'Books for Dummies©' version?" he asked.

                                                                                                            -The Hood House, half an hour later-

            *KNOCK KNOCK!* (AN: Great sound effects, uh?)

            Lance got up from where he was watching TV to answer the door.  Imagine his surprise to see Kitty, Rick and Tabby on the front step.  His face lit up as he saw Kitty though.  "KITTY!  Ummm, sorry.  But what are you doing here?"  Kitty just looked at him for a second.

            "Ummm, Lance, would it be okay if we spent a few hours here?  There's some really, _really_ weird stuff going on at the Institute, and I kinda needed to get to someplace that was at least semi-normal."  As Lance invited her in, he shot a questioning look at Rick and Tabby.  Tabby sailed right past him, chatting a mile a minute about how the place hadn't changed since she had last been there.  Rick began to look embarrassed.

            "Ummm, sorry.  I should probably stick around, and make sure that Tabby doesn't blow anything…" *BOOM!!!!!!!!* "Up," he finished as the house shook.  Lance winced a little at the noise, and Kitty noticed.

            "Are you like, okay?  Is it like, the headaches again?"  Lance nodded, but smiled tiredly.

            "Yeah, but ever since I started some special meditation exercises, they've been coming less and less, and are getting weaker and weaker."  Pietro raced by, cackling, at that moment, with Wanda in hot pursuit.  "Of course some headaches never go away," he groaned.  As Pietro sped past the kitchen door, a wiry, tanned arm shot out and lifted him clear off the floor.  The arm was attached to Coyote, of course.  Kitty and Rick's jaws dropped at the ease that he had caught the speedster.  Coyote looked up from Pietro and nodded in the two teens direction.

            "Kitty, Rick.  Lance, why don't you show them the backyard or something; Freddy's cooking right now, and you know how testy he gets if people bother him in the kitchen."  With that he turned his attention back to the squirming silver haired bundle in his grip.

            "Okay Speedy, what'd you do this time?" he asked calmly.

            "He was reading my diary!" Wanda accused.  Pietro squirmed in Coyote's grip some more.

            "No I wasn't, I thought it was a novel!"

            "Liar!"

            "Am not!"

            "Are too!"

            "Am-_guck_!"  Pietro's retort was cut off by Toad sliming his mouth shut from his position on the ceiling.

            "Thank you Todd," Wanda called sweetly.

            "No problem Wanda," he called back, before assuming a position that didn't look all too comfortable on the wall.

            "That's enough for today Todd, you can come down now," Coyote called.  Toad nodded as he hopped down.  Kitty was still shocked about the new addition to the 'Hood.

            "Lance," she said faintly, "Who is this?"

            "This is Coyote.  He's training us."  Coyote nodded at the girl.

            "Oh, by the way, if you're looking for Tabby, she's in Mystique's old room.  I asked her if she would incinerate some things for me."  Lance looked at him for a moment.

            "The box of…"  Coyote nodded.  Lance sighed in relief.  "Thank god!  I'm still having nightmares from when we found it!"

            As the Lance herded the other two upstairs, Kitty shot an accusing glare at Lance.  "Why didn't you like, tell me about him?" she asked coolly.  Lance looked a little sheepish.

            "I'm sorry Kitty, but Coyote wanted to keep the fact that he was training us a secret.  Besides," he continued defensively, "He's really helped us to master our powers.  And he's even teaching us martial arts!"

            "But how do you like, know that he's who he says he is.  He could be Mystique in disguise you know!"  Lance looked out the window as screeching brakes sounded in the drive.  His face contorted to a look of intense anger.

            "I think you're theory just got disproved," he said bitterly.  He moved aside to let the other two see out the window.  Outside, Raven Darkholme got out of her car, and gave a sinister smile as she looked at the Brotherhood boarding House.

---To Be Continued---

            Oh _SHIT_!!  Mystique's here and the shit is about to hit the fan hard!  Let's see what happens when our favorite spirit guide faces off against a shape-shifting biotch!  And this little confrontation will have more observers than you think.  Who else is watching, and who exactly do they work for.  All that and a bag of chips next time, but until then, Read & Review!


	23. It’s Payback Time!

                                Take the Long Way Home

            Here we are; chapter 23!  Let's see what Coyote has in store for Mystique.  Pray for her folks, that's all I'm going to say.

Fluffy's numba 1 gal- Actually I only told you what happens at the very, _very_ end.  There's still all the other stuff in between.

Andivari- There's a few people you thought of, and a few you didn't.  Sorry, Hack and Slash don't feature right now, but later on…

LW- here's a little Dante to brighten up your day.

AzureDragoness- If you pick up the spatula, I'll set my little sister on you! *Motions behind me to a crate with warning and biohazard stickers all over it.  Two insanely bright eyes peer out from between the boards.* And I don't know about a sequel.  Lately I've been watching the Disney channel (Mom had the remote, had no choice) and I've gotten an idea for a Lilo and Stitch fic.  I'm gonna write it for a bit and see where it goes.  If I think it's any good, I'll post it.

descendent- Apparently I'm not doing that good of a job if you can wait for the next chapter.  A _really _good author should be able to make a person absolutely crazy if they have to wait to long for a chapter.  Apparently I haven't reached that level yet.  But people are rereading this story?  Wow.

L1701E- Maybe she will, maybe she won't; I haven't decided yet.  Yes there will be another team up, bigger than last time, but New Mutants instead of the X-Men.  Oughta be good, huh?

animeluvr- Huh? *Draco nudges me with his elbow.*  "Just nod and smile man, nod and smile and pretend you know what the hell she's talking about."  Yeah, kinda says something about the Institute now that Dante and Razor are there, don't it?  I don't know how it came to be either, but it _is_ an apt description of the situation.  About to get very, very, _very_ messy

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer-Ya gotta ask yourself; 'Do I feel…_lucky_?'  Well; do ya; _punk_?

Chapter 23- It's **Payback** Time!

            Coyote and Todd looked up from where they were watching Wanda beat the snot out of her brother.  "Hey guys, want some popcorn yo?" Toad asked, offering the bowl he had been sharing with Coyote.  Lance ignored the offer.

            "Guys, knock it _off_" he yelled, as the house shook.  Suddenly he found himself the center of attention.

            "Something wrong kid?" Coyote asked blandly. Before Lance could answer, there was a knock at the door.  Coyote's gaze snapped around to lock on the sound.  "Right on time," he growled under his breath.  He got up and marched to the door, as Lance explained what he had just seen upstairs to the rest of the Brotherhood.  He reached the door and opened it just as the kids reached the hallway entrance.  They froze in horror as he turned the knob.

            Mystique's face as he opened the door was priceless.  She opened her mouth, and began to say something, but Coyote cut her off.  "We don't want any!" he snapped, slamming the door closed in her face.  He smirked as he heard bone crack against the door.  Apparently she hadn't jerked back fast enough.  Under the porch, Puck snickered to himself.  He had used his powers to make the door slam far faster than was usually possible, insuring that his friend got the confrontation that he wanted.

            Coyote turned, dusting off his hands, before another, harder knock sounded.  Coyote sighed as he turned back to the door.  Before he opened it he turned and looked over his shoulder.  "As soon as I get finished, you guys can get your licks in."  So saying he opened the door again, and, leaning casually against the doorframe, gave Mystique a bland look.  "_Yee-es_?" he drawled.

            On the other side of the street, four people watched the impending conflict.  One, a S.H.I.E.L.D. field operative, watched through a pair of binoculars, as he munched on a taco.  'Ohhh, if that guy's as good at fighting as he is at pissing people off, this should get nice and bloody.'  He took another bite out of his taco.  'At least this'll make up for missing out on those WrestleMania™ tickets.'  He took a slurp of his cola, as he waited for someone to make the next move.

            A house down, a H.Y.D.R.A. field operative watched the same scene, lips pursed.  "I don't see why I have to watch these little brats,' she thought, 'but that specimen makes it all worth it now,' she thought, looking at Coyote through a pair of high powered binoculars.  She idly looked down towards the spot occupied by the S.H.I.E.L.D. field operative.  'I wonder what interest S.H.I.E.L.D. has in these children anyway.  There's no way they would ever trust the military.  But at least the operative is a fairly nice specimen.'  (AN: Apparently this gal's a little lonely *All my muses chorus*: "NAW, YA THINK!")

            Two figures reclining in separate trees were also riveted by the fight.  'So,' Thanatos sneered, 'that idiot mongrel is here as well.  No matter, if the plan I'm hatching works, I can sit back and watch O'Reily destroy him, as well as any of those pathetic losers who refuse to submit to Magneto's will.'  After the fiasco at the bank, Magneto had ordered Mastermind to do a little mental reconstruction.  Thanatos was now incapable of attacking anyone without a direct order from either Magneto himself, or Sabretooth.  Instead he was being used as a spy, like Gambit.

            His current assignment was to watch the Brotherhood and assess the progress Pietro had made with them.  However, due to his training, Thanatos was able to hide some of his thoughts from the Italian.  He had his own agenda, now that he had seen that Magneto's wasn't about to do him any good.

            Mystique, having reverted to her original form, was alternating between holding her nose and glaring at balefully him.  "Who are you?" she said, attempting a sneer.  But it's kinda hard to maintain a sneer without wrinkling your nose.  And that was something Mystique just couldn't do right now.  Gee, I wonder why?

            Across the street, in the oak tree next to the Hood Boarding house, a female figure reclined in the branches, watching the impending fight.  She smirked as she watched Mystique attempt to gather together some shreds of dignity together.  "Take this witch to the cleaners; brother."  The woman is average height, with waist length, lustrous black hair.  She wore a simple pair of jeans, a red t-shirt, a pair of old scuffed tennis shoes and a straw cowboy hat pushed up on her forehead.  Around her neck she wore a pendant of a bird in flight.

            Back on the ground, Mystique glared daggers at Coyote.  Coyote was returning it with a cold stare.  "The name's Coyote.  And _you_," he spat, "are the shape changing _biotch_ that made these kid's lives hell.  And for that, you're going to get a taste of your own medicine."  As he spoke, he rolled up the sleeves of the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing.  Mystique dropped into a fighting stance; Coyote following suit.  He smirked.

            "Shall we dance?"

            Mystique lunged forward, trying for a high kick.  Coyote blocked with his forearm, and countered by sweeping her legs out from under her.  He followed it up with a hard punch to her ribs.  "OOOHFF!!!!!" Mystique grunted.  Coyote stood back, and waited for Mystique to regain both her breath and feet.  As the two began to exchange punches, the Brotherhood came out on the porch to watch.

            "Whoa!  He's really doing a number on the old hag," Toad whistled.

            "Take her **OUT** Coyote!" Tabby cheered.  Lance, Pietro, Wanda and Fred all watched silently, approving looks on their faces.  None of the Hood members made a move to help their erstwhile boss.  Kitty and Rick just looked on in amazement as Coyote rained punch after punch down on Mystique's form.

            "Ya know, as much as I would _love_ to be the one to take you to the cleaners, I think that that honor should belong to the kids you've dumped on, and then just plain dumped, how many times now Lance?" Coyote called.

            "Twice now," Lance called back.  Coyote nodded as he delivered a short uppercut that had the woman's teeth rattling.  As she hit the dirt, he turned and walked up to the porch.  He looked over his students, who were looking at him with curiosity.

            "Well?" Coyote asked, ""what are you guys waiting for?  It's your payback time right now.  You can't tell me that you don't have things to get back at her for!"  As he spoke, underneath the porch Puck was chanting a spell to increase the bravery of timid warriors.  He had taken a small peek into the memories of the children here, and suffice to say, he had not been impressed with the way the blue skinned woman had dealt with the problems the kids had attempted to bring to her attention.  The shoddy state of the boarding house, the lack of good food, and the general fact that Mystique was _totally_ unsuited to care for children.  He was looking forward to this with _extreme_ enjoyment.

            As Mystique stood, breathing heavily, the entire (current) Brotherhood stepped forward, spreading out into a semicircle. (AN: Big, _BIG_ hint here.  Let's see if you can guess who joins their happy little family later on.)  Mystique smirked as she watched them approach, locking onto Wanda.  She would be the biggest threat.  'Best take her out first' she thought to her self.

            She settled back into a defensive posture as she waited for them to charge in blindly as they usually did.  So she was beyond shocked when _Toad_ was the one to initiate the attack.  He leapt over her, sliming her, and the area around her liberally.  Mystique made a move to kick him out of the air, but was brought up short.  She looked down and found that her foot was wrapped tightly in a tendril of earth.  She gaped in Lance's direction.

            He was kneeling, one hand on the ground, head down so his bangs obscured his eyes.  When he looked up and smirked, you could see that his eyes had a strange bluish glow coming from them.  "Surprise," he smirked.

            Over on the porch, Coyote was leaning against the wall of the house, making comments on the battle to Rick, Tabby and Kitty.  "That was a good opening move," he noted.  "Not only did Toad provide a distraction for Lance, but he's also managed to make her footing extremely treacherous.  I guess even a little training goes a long way with these kids."

            "Never mind that, how was Lance able to **_do_** that!?" Kitty asked.  Rick scratched his head.

            "This is something new?" he asked.  Tabby nodded.

            "I thought he could only make those earthquakes," she confirmed.  Coyote just smiled as he watched Pietro knock Mystique back to the ground with one of the katas he had shown him.  So far, Wanda and Fred were both standing back and letting the others have their own turns.

            "That's enough you little brats!" Mystique spat, wrenching her foot out of the earth.  She made an attempt to punch Toad as he strafed her with slime once more, but he blocked with his arm, before jumping away.  He looked over at Lance and Pietro, and nodded.  The two nodded as well, and let up on the attack.

            "Your turn Wanda, Fred," Coyote called from the porch.  The two of them nodded.  Mystique, battered and bruised, glared at them all.

            "What do you think you are **_doing_**!" she shrieked.  "I **_made_** you!  I took you from your pathetic, squalid lives, and made you into what you are today.  I **_OWN_** you!!!"  Lance stepped forward then, a barely contained rage showing in his eyes.

            "You made _us_?!  No; the only thing you did was take us from wherever you found us, and expect us to be your willing little army.  You expected us to do things with our powers that we didn't know how.  You expected us to fight, but were to busy scheming on how to get rid of the X-Men to train us.  You wanted us to be powerful, but had neither the time nor inclination to get us good food and medicine when we needed it.  You expected us to do all that ourselves!"  He looked around at the rest of the Brotherhood.  "I don't know about the rest of you, but I do **_not_** want her back in charge.  Coyote ," he gestured towards the porch, "has not only helped us get the money we need to survive without having to steal, he's trained us, he's put up with us, and by **_GOD_** he actually seems to care about what we do with our lives!  And I say we stick with him!  And even if the rest of you don't; I intend to!"

            Under the porch, Puck stopped laughing for a moment as he realized that the great Puck had made a mistake.  Instead of casting a spell that inspired courage in timid warriors, he had cast a spell that gave eloquence to a true leader.  The kind of eloquence that Hitler had possessed.  The kind of eloquence that could cause _serious_ damage in the wrong hands.  He paused for a minute as he used his powers to look into the boys mind.  What he found relieved his fears.  Though Lance had been seriously mistreated throughout the course of his young life, he didn't posses the unfiltered evil that Puck had felt when he had had the misfortune to be in the presence of Hitler during one of his missions for Oberon.  There was a shadow about him, yes, but nothing to indicate even the _potential_ for **_true_** evil.  He sighed in relief, then went back to observing the fight.

            Lance looked at Fred and Wanda.  "Time for the big finish guys."  They nodded and charged.  As Fred swung an uppercut, Wanda fired a hexbolt at his fist, encasing it in a golden glow.  When it connected with Mystique's chin, there was only one word to describe it.

            _BOOOOOM_!!!!! Not 'boom', not 'Boom', not even 'BOOM'.  But a fully capitalized, italicized, five O's and exclamation points, '_BOOOOOM_!!!!!'.

            A dustcloud formed when the impact hit, broken by Mystique's semiconscious frame flying out, leaving a trail of dust and smoke.  Rick raised both arms in the field goal sign, yelling, "AND IT'S GOOD!"  Mystique managed to turn into a crow mid-flight.  She cawed angrily a few times before flying off.  Todd looked at Wanda in awe.

            At their respective posts, both the S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.Y.D.R.A. operatives were racing to record what they had just seen.  Both of them were envisioning promotions for showing their bosses how lucrative, for lack of a better word, it would be to have these teens on _their_ side.  In his tree, Thanatos shifted.  'Time to make my move,' he thought.  The woman in the other tree silently climbed down and began approaching the house.  No one noticed her due to the celebrating that was going on.

            "Did we just…did we just **_beat_** Mystique?" Todd asked, in shock.  Wanda nodded, looking just as confused as he did.  After a moment, the two of them smiled slowly.  They looked at each other, and then the dam burst.  Toad grabbed Wanda by the arms and the two of them began to jump up and down excitedly, babbling and congratulating each other.  Coyote palmed his face as everyone else's jaws hit the floor.  Said jaws then attempted to go through the porch when Wanda gave Toad a tiny kiss on the cheek.  Coyote just smirked as Todd suddenly froze in mid-jump and gently touched the cheek his crush had just kissed.  He looked at Wanda for a moment…

            Right before four foot ten of adolescent mutant hit the ground in a twitching heap.  Rick walked over and poked him in the leg.  "Is he gonna be alright?"

            Pietro in the meantime, had whisked off to his room.  He didn't care if the others _killed_ him for this; he _had_ to report this to dad.  There was absotively no _flippin'_ way he would let Todd hook up with Wanda.  He'd rather see her date _Freddy_ first, not that he had anything against the big lug mind you.  He went to his dresser where he had stashed the cell phone his father had given him, but it wasn't there.  Instead, he found a note.

            "_Hey kid, relax.  Your old man sent me to do an observation run on you schmucks.  I saw the fight, and I saw the kiss.  Your dear old dad will hear all about it in my report to him.  And since I'm making a report to him, I thought that you wouldn't need the cell anymore._

_              Your new pain-in-the-ass spy,_

_              Thanatos._"

            Pietro chose this moment to reveal the extent of his vocabulary.  And let's just say that he had some words in there that would make the saltiest of sailors blush.

            Back outside, Todd was just sitting up groggily.  "That had to e one of the best dreams I've ever had," he said wistfully.  Lance grinned at him from where he had his arm around Kitty's shoulders.  Said valley girl was looking more than a little dizzy from the intense kiss she and her boyfriend had just shared.  Apparently Lance was on a euphoric high from his defiance of Mystique.  Not that she minded.

            Although the catcalls from Rick and Tabby were starting to register.  And those she minded.

            "It wasn't a dream little guy.  We actually kicked Mystique's ass, and Wanda actually _kissed_ you."  Lance cut off whatever else he had been going to day as the sound a clapping reached his ears.  Heads turned as the others noticed it.

            It was the woman from the tree.  She appeared to be genuinely applauding them, not mocking them at all.  Coyote looked at her for a moment, did a double take, and leapt over the railing of the porch.  He rushed forward and swept the woman up in a crushing bear hug, picking her up and spinning her around in a circle, not an easy feat when you take into account she was about a foot taller than he was.  "Raven!" he yelled happily.

            The woman just laughed and hit his shoulder playfully.  "Put me down you idiot," she laughed.  He voice had a melodic quality to it that set the teens who were watching warily at ease.  As Coyote set her down, she approached the Brotherhood, a fond arm thrown around Coyote's shoulders.  Lance stepped up as spokesman for the group.

            "So," he said, crossing his arms, "who's she Coyote?"  Coyote just grinned.

            "Guys, this is my big sister Raven."

            Back at the Institute, Dante sat up suddenly and wondered why he had just felt a cold chill run down his spine.  After a moment, he shrugged it off and returned to cleaning his pistols, Life and Death.

            Back at the Hood House, Pietro came downstairs, a grim look on his face.  He ignored the newcomer, and went straight to Coyote.  "We have a problem," he said, handing the note from Thanatos to the man.  Coyote skimmed it and then demonstrated that, no matter how large Pietro's curse vocabulary was, _his_ was honed by centuries of experience.  Lance and Rick blanched as he delivered a particularly vicious string of curses.  Lance looked at Rick over Kitty's head.

            "Do you think that we _really_ want to know what the rotting goats head and the nest of hornets are for?" Lance asked.

            "Probably not," Rick answered.  Raven looked over at Wanda and Fred.

            "So," she asked, "is everyday as exciting as this?"  Wanda just looked at her.

            "Why do you want to know?" Fred asked.

            "Because I intend to keep an eye on my little brother."  She looked wearily at Coyote, who had run out of English curses and was now onto cursing in Shoshone.  "Big brother Wolf asked me to track him down and bring him home if I could.  Since he's training all of you; unless I miss my guess," She looked at Todd, who nodded an affirmative. "Well then, I guess I'll have to stay until he's finished training you.  Besides," she added, looking at Coyote, who had moved on to Apache, "You kids need a woman around the house, or else you'll spend all your free time  in belching contests."   Coyote ignored her, and kept right on going. He handed the note, which he had crumpled in his fist, over to Lance.

            Lance removed his arm from around Kitty and took the note.  After a few seconds, his brow furrowed.  Another second later, and the earth around him began to shift, small lumps and hollows forming in the ground around him.  He looked up and glared at Pietro.  The silver-haired speedster had the good grace to look ashamed.  "Look," he began, but Lance cut him off.

            "Save it," the terrakinetic growled.  He looked at Kitty.  "I need to cool off for a little bit, okay?"  At her nod, Lance stalked into the house, flinging the note and slamming the door behind him.  Coyote on the other hand, had moved on into cursing in Shawnee.  Tabby went to retrieve the note, missing the way Ricks jaw went slack as she bent over.  He managed to gather his wits before she turned back to them.

            "Wonder what got Lance so hot under the collar?"  After reading the note, she went slightly pale.  "Ummm, Kitty?  Do you remember that guy who attacked the bank because he was after Shawn?"  Kitty nodded once more, while Rick just looked confused.  "He's back, and he's working for Magneto."  Raven looked between the two, noting the face that they both sported.  She crossed her arms and looked sternly at Pietro, who shuffled his feet like a guilty five year old that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

            "I want to know what's going on.  **_NOW_**."  Pietro gulped, while the rest of the Brotherhood just stood there.  Fred scratched his head in confusion.

            "Could someone _please_ explain what's goin' on here?"

            In the background, Coyote was now cursing in Navaho.

                                                                                                --Magneto's Lair—

            Magneto glared at his two spies from his chair.  "Your reports," he ordered.  Gambit stepped forward.

            "De ony'(only) ting Gambit fine out is dat de Draco be able to create some sorta projections that can iteract wit de enviroment."  The Cajun flicked the toothpick he had been chewing on onto the ground.  "Dey look pleny tough."  Magneto nodded, going into thought.

            'This 'Draco' is becoming more powerful than I had anticipated.  I need to find some way to counteract this power shift, or else Xavier will maintain his edge over my Acolytes.  Perhaps the Brotherhood…?'  When Thanatos was sure that he wouldn't interrupt his 'leader's' (He smirked mentally) thoughts, he stepped forward to deliver his own report.

            "I'm afraid I have bad news My Lord.  The Brotherhood has forsaken you."  At this Magneto shot bolt upright.

            "Explain yourself, before I decide that you need a lesson in holding you tongue; literally."  Thanatos nodded, not perturbed by the threat.

            "One of O'Reily's friends, a man called Coyote, is now living with the Brotherhood and training them in the use of their powers.  They seem quite comfortable with him."  Magneto seethed, but calmed quickly.

            "And?" he demanded.

            "Today, the woman Mystique attempted to retake control of the Brotherhood."

            "I assume the traitorous witch defeated this…_human_?"  Thanatos smirked, stretching his disfigured face into a grotesque mask.

            "He not only defeated her easily, after he allowed her to regain her breath, he allowed the Brotherhood to finish her off, further bonding them to himself.  Your son and daughter assisted in her downfall.  And it also appears that your daughter may be developing feelings for one Todd Tolensky, aka 'The Toad'."  Thanatos could only cackle gleefully in his mind as Magneto's eyes bugged.

            "I…see."  Magneto turned around, waving a hand dismissively.  "Go," he ordered.

            As Gambit and Thanatos left their leader's office, they couldn't help but smirk evilly at each other as a strangled yell echoed through the base.

**_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"_****__**

****

---To Be Continued---

            Well, there's that chapter.  Next time, Magneto makes plans to acquire a new ally to even the power structure.  And it's one of the X-Men!  Also, a certain reptile's birthday is coming.  What madness lurks on the horizon?  Find out next time, but until then, Read & Review!  And any suggestions are welcome.


	24. Birthday Surprise, and The Fox & The Hou...

Take the Long Way Home

Well, folks, now we go on to chapter 24. Shawn's B-day, some plotting on the part of Magneto, and Slash and his mysterious sensei make an appearance. Also, Coyote has received a promotion from mere "story character" to "humor muse". Throws confetti in the air. Yea Coyote! All my other muses make a whoop-de-do gesture with their fingers "yea."

PUBLICITY-Hey people, I've come across a really cool Star Wars fic by Legendary Warrior. If you're a fan of the SW: KOTOR game, check it out!

Shadow Beast- I know, but LW made some modifications to Dante, changing his history and giving him a few weaknesses. And we decided to change the names of his weapons, to make him more original. Therefore, his sword is now called the Reaver, his pistols are Life & Death, and his gauntlets are the Hellfire gauntlets.

Midnightangel3- Thanks, I'll see what I can do about explaining a bit about their pasts. And Slash will make an appearance this chapter. I think the Inuyasha fans amongst the readers will be pleasantly surprised by who his sensei is too.

KyLewin- Thanks, I'm glad you appreciate my story so far. I hope that it continues to please.

Azuredragoness- LOL, yeah, he might be. You'd have better luck bonding with a rabid mountain lion ya know, my sister is **_NUTS_**.

L17O1E- Thanks, I think that Razor the Raptor is one of my finer creations. And you have just given me an idea. A wonderful idea. A simply wonderful, wretched, _awful_ idea that will have Scott babbling in panic while curled up in the fetal position and sucking his thumb.

Sick Minded Sucker-Heh, I just thought it would be a great gag if ole buckethead reacted like that.

LW-reread the last chapter, really, _really_ carefully. He's in there.

Goofn1-I'm not that great at writing angst, I'm more of a humor/action type of guy. But hey, I may put some in there, maybe.

Andivari-Okay, so I lied, there _ISN'T_ a real clue in there about who else is joining the Brotherhood. I'll give you a hint though, one of the two I have planned to join is someone I've already put into the fic, but _hasn't_ joined the X-Men. Ummm, actually, I don't read comics. What details are you talking about?

animeluvr1- well… it _may_ be Rick, but there's someone else who gets nabbed as well. Yeah, I'm gonna take care of the whole claustrophobia thing pretty soon too.

Soulstress-you're half right about who Buckethead wants. Thanks, I try.

Allycat588- Welll…not _really_ his big sister. But in most Indian lore, the different animals call each other "Brother" and "Sister". And the only reason Coyote is Raven's _little_ brother is because he has the mental maturity of a four year old. Coyote: "I resent that!" Why? "It happens to be a three year old." Muses, oy.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- **_AUGH_**!! **_WAUGH_**!! Sounds of swords slicing through the air and various body parts being forcibly removed, followed by a heavy thud That concludes our demonstration. Any…_questions_?

Chapter 24-Birthday Surprise, and The Fox & The Hound

Shawn picked listlessly at his breakfast. It had been two days since "The Incident", as he and Bahumut were calling it. Rick sat down on one side of him, next to Tabby, while Maria sat on the other. The two of them were the only ones who didn't seem to be as freaked out as the rest of the Institute. Jean had gotten out of the med ward yesterday, and seemed extremely jumpy.

"Not hungry?" Rick asked. Shawn was currently in the midst of making a freeform sculpture of a bird with the remains of his scrambled eggs.

"Uh-uh. I just wish everyone would stop looking at me like I betrayed them or something you know? It's not like any of them would have believed me!" Rick patted him on the back, while Maria did her best to send some sort of silent comfort. She was by her nature, not a touchy feely person in public, or in private for that matter, so this was the best she could really do. Shawn let loose a shaky sigh as he used his fork to remove his sculpture's head. Conversation around the table suddenly fell silent.

Shawn looked up, and suddenly felt the need to bang his head against the table really, _really_ hard. A pair of mischievous eyes; _his_ eyes, were floating above the table. No nose, no mouth, no other features at all, just a pair of eyes hovering above the plate of bacon. A miniature sword appeared and began to write in the air, leaving a glowing trail behind. When it finished, a smirk appeared below the eyes before both smirk and eyes disappeared. Shawn, going with his gut feeling, got up from the table, and began to bang his head against the wall repeatedly. **_WHAM_** Everyone else was to busy laughing to notice. **_WHAM_** Here's what the words said: _Hey Shawn, don't get to down; your birthday's coming up in a few days! Oh, and by the way… I seeeeee yooouuuuu._

**_WHAM_**

"That can't be healthy," Rick remarked.

**_ WHAM_**

"Do you think we should stop him before he makes another hole in the wall?" Tabby asked conversationally.

**_WHAM_**

"I think we should," Rick confirmed.

**_WHAM_**

Before they managed to get his head out of the wall, Shawn had proceded to make an impressive three and a half inch dent in the beam behind the drywall.

-Magneto's Base-

Magneto, recovered from his rage of two days ago, sat; deep in thought. He had had Gambit and Thanatos make a compilation describing the different members of the X-Men, their powers and personalities, and which would be most receptive to the mental reconstruction he planned to inflict upon whomever he finally decided to "take into the fold". He turned off the television with the video of the girl, "Magma" transforming into her alternate flame form during an outdoor training exercise. He rubbed his temples under his helmet, before his eyes fell on one of the files. He picked it up, and examined the picture and the dossier. He smiled. "This one will do nicely," he said to himself.

In another room, Colossus and Pyro were at rest. Pyro was at one of the computers scattered throughout the base. He had logged into the video files and was watching something with intense concentration, strange behavior for the insanely happy pyro. Colossus looked up from the sketchpad in his hands. "Vhat are you doing comrade?"

"Well, mate, I'm looking over those X-men sheila's dossiers. There's some video clips saved in here too. Maybe I'll get some insperatio-hnuuuunnnnguuungnneeeep". At St. John's sudden strangled squeak, Colossus got up to investigate. What he saw had him _extremely_ close to face palming, a little trick he had picked up from Shawn at the last poker game, after Gambit had bluffed them all out of the last pot with a pair of twos. "Are you alright, Pyro?"

Pyro continued to stare straight ahead at the screen. "You have reached St. John Allerdyce. Pyro is not available right now, so if you leave a message after the beep, he'll get back to you…BEEP." Colossus felt that this was now a face-palm worthy situation, so that's just what he did. After that, he took a closer look at the small movie clip the Australian was watching. His eyes widened.

Oh no.

Ohhhhhh _no_.

The clip showed a dark skinned, dark haired girl, transforming into a blazing figure, black patches swirling over her form. Shawn and Gambit had both told him about this particular X-girl. Amara Aquila, codename Magma. Literally one of the hottest girls in the X-lineup.

And apparently Pyro had just fallen head over heels for her.

This would _not_ turn out well.

-The Institute-

Logan clumped inside from getting the mail, passing the rec room; he looked inside, noticing Shawn. He was currently in a whispered conference with Jubilee and Bobby. Jubilee was giggling now and then, so he assumed it was another one of Shawn's pranks. Then he saw the "handbook" in Shawn's hands, a copy of the "Triad Handbook" that Hack had left with Shawn. Definitely a prank session in the works. "If I'm gonna end up covered in flour paste again Scales, you won't live to see your birthday," he growled, entering. He popped his claws for emphasis. Shawn waved him off airily.

"Relax, you aren't the target anymore. Instead, it's…" Shawn caught himself in time and clamped his lips shut. Logan cracked a smirk.

"Fine then Scales." He turned to go, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Oh yeah, there's a crate outside for ya. Smells like it has somethin' electronic in it too." Shawn, curious, went to the door, followed by Bobby and Jubilee. On the steps was a medium sized crate. Bobby read the label on it over Shawn's shoulder.

"Care of Dragonfire Dojo; handle with care." He looked at Shawn. "Any clues about what it is?" In the meantime, Shawn had a half laughing, half mournful look on his face.

"I thought he'd have forgotten about that by now," he muttered under his breath. Jubilee looked at him curiously.

"Forgot about what?" she asked.

"After I pulled a prank on sensei, involving grape jell-o and some hairspray…" At the looks his friends gave him, he gave a lopsided grin. "Long story. Anyway, he threatened me with karaoke at my next birthday party." He looked at the crate like it had something poisonous in it. "It looks like he made good on that threat." Jubilee and Bobby shared a look behind Shawn's back, but quickly hid it as he turned to face them. "Listen guys, I need you to keep this a…" he trailed off as he caught something passing between the two of them. He sighed. "You guys are gonna blab, aint cha?" They nodded in unison. "Damn! Well, since you're gonna tell anyway, I might as well invite the Brotherhood to the party too. Give everybody a fair chance to ruin our hearing."

A few minutes later, Shawn had managed to gather of the original team of X-Men, including Logan, who had decided to eavesdrop, just in case, as well as a few of the New Recruits. "So what's the big announcement?" Scott asked, taking a sip from his pop. Shawn couldn't help but grin a little as he envisioned his "leader's" reaction to this little piece of news.

"Oh, it's not really _that_ important, I just wanted you guys to know that I intend to invite the Brotherhood to my birthday tomorrow. Immediately, Shawn was treated to a glorious spit take, made even funnier by the fact that Scott had managed to completely _soak_ Jean from head to toe in Big Red™. The other's reactions weren't quite as funny.

"ARE YOU _MENTAL_?!?!" Kurt yelled. Most of the New Mutants seemed to be a little confused by the reactions of the older students, and began to murmur, making even _more_ racket. Dante walked in right then. He surveyed the situation, weighed his options, and settled on the most tactful approach to the situation.

"**_QUIET_**" he barked. It got quiet. Logan had to give him credit; the guy knew how to shut the kids up. "Now," he growled, "what the hell is the problem here?"

"He says he wants the _BROTHERHOOD_ to be allowed to come to his birthday!" Jean exclaimed, almost forgetting that her fifty dollar shirt was ruined. Almost. Dante just looked at her.

"So?" he asked, as if this was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. And it probably was. Jean just gaped at him for a moment, before she recovered enough to give a full display of her brilliant logic.

"B-b-but they're the _Brotherhood_!!" Dante made a gesture for her to keep going.

"And?" Jean looked like she was trying to catch flies by letting them fly into her mouth. Shawn grinned.

"So it's alright if I invite them over, right Logan?" he called. Logan, looking sheepish for the first time in a long, _long_ time stepped into view. He had contacted Xavier via mental "yelling", and the professor had monitored the conversation through him, sending Logan the final answer.

"Sure kid, if that guy whose takin' care of em comes too." Shawn nodded.

"If I know Coyote, he wouldn't miss this for the _world_." He grinned sardonically. Oh yeah, he's gonna have a _ball_ when he gets here. Bahumut added, with a mental grin and a wink.

-Bayville Sewers, That Night-

Two figures trudged through the dank sewer systems of Bayville. One was tall, his head only about a foot from the ceiling of the tunnel. He wore his long red hair in a ponytail, leaving the rest of his hair in a loose mass. But his most outstanding traits were his ears, and…six tails? Yes, perched atop his head was a pair of fox's ears, their white tips seeming to shine in the darkness. His tails seemed to move as one, each a perfectly formed red-brown brush with a shining white tip. He wore a pair of modified jeans that didn't restrict the movement of his tails, and a black t-shirt that seemed to absorb what little light there was in the tunnels. His feet were bare, revealing that his toes possessed similar claws to the ones on his hands. He looked back at his companion, and gave a fond smile. 'Like his ancestor in so many ways, yet almost as different as well,' were his thoughts as he watched the young man behind him try to keep up with the fox's long strides.

"Shippo-sensei, wait up!" he called. The fox, Shippo, stopped and waited for his charge to catch up to him. As he waited, his mind wandered back to another time, when he had been a young kit. He remembered watching a wedding between a dark haired woman and man, and swearing to himself to protect their line for as long as he lived, for the friendship they had shown him. He remembered how he had beseeched the woman, Kagome, to allow him to guard the jewel that had brought her to his time, so that she could free her mind of worry that her children would become targets of other demons that might come seeking the jewel. And he remembered the night he had used the power within the jewel to surpass his limitations and transcend to the form he possessed now, absorbing the jewel into his being. Shippo, the small Kitsune, had become a Time Fox, a near immortal being of great power, in order to watch over the family of his friends.

As the years passed, he had watched faithfully in the shadows, guarding those that could not protect themselves. He had watched from a distance as the great-grandson and great-granddaughter of four of his closest friends had wed, binding the two families together. And he had watched in horror as they were consumed in a blinding flash, leaving only the father and one son, who had traveled to America before The War. He had rejoiced when the son had wed and even more so at the birth of _his_ son, watching from outside the window of the hospital, feeling a small stirring of the old power his descendant had possessed within the babe curled within his mother's arms. And he had wept yet again, when the father, his wife, and his two greatest friends had been taken in a car crash that he could do nothing to prevent. On that night, he had shown himself to the baby's grandfather, and explained who and what he was. He told the man of the power the child carried, and that he wished to train him in its proper use when he came of age. The man had agreed. (AN: The blinding flash, as many of you have probably guessed, was the bombing of Hiroshima. Although I am not of Japanese descent, I feel that this was one of America's worst moments in history.)

So it was that Shippo, the Time Fox, came to be the teacher of Sebastian Kamiya, the descendant of the hanyou Inuyasha.

Sebastian caught up with his teacher, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath. As he leaned over, he caught sight of himself in the water in the bottom of the tunnel. He grinned to himself as he thought what his best friend's reactions would be to his new 'look'. His formerly black hair had turned bright silver; his formerly dark eyes were bright amber. He studied his image in his reflection for a moment longer. He was about five foot six, with a thick head of messy hair. He seemed to radiate a serious air, but if you looked hard, you could see the spark of mischief and beneath the cloak seriousness and intelligence. Though he had changed outwardly, his personality remained the same.

The most noteworthy change he had undergone however, were his ears. They now perched on top of his head, pointed and a little fuzzy. He had to wear a hat now when he went out in public, unless he was going someplace where he didn't care if people thought he was weird, which was just about everywhere. All that mattered was what his friends thought of him. And speaking of friends, he wondered whether or not Shawn had gotten that picture he had sent to him.

As he straightened, he adjusted the scabbard at his side. As he did so, he felt the gentle pulse of power radiate from the Tetsaiga. The ancient sword, handed down through the generations, was one of a set of two, both forged from the fangs of the same ancient dog demon. The sword itself also possessed a sort of sentience, one that Sebastian could understand, since he was connected to the sword through a bond of blood. And right now the sword was in a petulant mood. This _probably_ had something to do with the fact that the sword was currently _not_ made of metal as it should have been. This was Sebastian's fault, so to speak. His power was one that quite a few people would kill for. He possessed the power of transmutation, the ability to turn one substance into another, like lead into_ gold_! He had used his abilities to turn the sword to wood, in case he had to use the sword to defend himself against someone he had no wish to harm. It was also a useful way to practice his swordsman's skills without harming anything in the vicinity. He shot a questioning look over at his teacher.

"Remind me again why we're trudging through the sewers in a town we've never been to before?" Shippo sighed.

'Maybe they're more alike than I thought,' he thought, not for the first time. "As I said before, you need to put the skills you've learned into practice. It's not enough to merely practice your moves, you have to put them use in a real fight. And I've heard that there's a group of mutants in these sewers that know how to fight quite well." Slash nodded in understanding.

"So you want _me_ to challenge _them_? And what if I lose?" Shippo made an understanding face.

"Then we train until you _win_. If they allow us, we may stay with them as well."

"So…how do we find these guys?" In answer, Shippo sat down. "Let them find us huh?" Shippo nodded. Slash made himself comfortable, gently shooing away a rat from the place he wanted to sit in. "Go on little guy, I'd like to sit here."

When the rat had disappeared into the darkness, Slash sat down and propped himself against the slope of the wall. He looked over at Shippo as he took a headset and CD player out. "Is it okay if I listen to some tunes?" Shippo waved the question away.

"Why not, it may allow us to be discovered quicker. Go ahead." As Slash leaned back and began to bob his head in time to 'The Baha Men'; letting out a quiet "who let the _dawgs_ out" every so often, a rendezvous was taking place deeper in the tunnels. The rat that Adam had gently shooed away stopped at the feet of a shadowed figure, and began to chitter at it. A paw-like hand reached down; the rat stepping into it without fear. A strange conversation began, in squeaks and chitterings. After a moment the figure set the rat down, and, after giving it a small piece of food, it scurried off. Two other figures, one shorter than the other, looked on impassively. "What did it say?" the taller one asked, identifying it as a girl. The first figure turned, profiling it. It had a distinctly rodent profile, oversized ears and a slightly pointed snout. You could just make out whiskers near the end of the snout.

"Visitors," it said, marking "it" as a him "And they're looking for the Morlocks." He looked from the girl to the smaller figure and back again. "They appear to be resting right now. We'll move when they fall asleep. Exo, since you can cloak yourself, I want you to watch them. If they detect you, get out of there on the double."

"Alright Capps," the small figure replied, identifying it as a young boy. There was a strange sound, like gears whirring and metal snapping together magnetically, as the boys figure was obscured by some sort of strange cloud. When it faded, a four-legged figure, about three fourths of Exo's original height, stood there. Red optics gleamed as Exo loped silently down the tunnel towards Slash and Shippo.

-The Hood House-Earlier that night-

The phone began to ring in the kitchen. Fred, a pot and spoon in hand, used two of his fingers to pluck the phone off of its cradle and perch it between his ear and shoulder. "Chez Hood, chef Freddy speaking." As he answered, Coyote wandered in from the living room, where Lance, Pietro and Todd were all clustered around the tube, hooting at the game, yelling in disgust or cheering at the screen, depending on how the game was going.

Raven was outside with Wanda, showing the girl some of her favorite constellations. Being the only two women in the house, they had bonded quickly, with Raven trying to help Wanda move on from her father's betrayal in small ways; lending a sympathetic ear for girl, or just someone to confide in. Raven was one of the first people that actually seemed to care less that Wanda's powers could seriously hurt her, possibly even kill; she only seemed interested in the young girls wellbeing. But back to the topic at hand. "Who's on the line Fred?" Coyote asked. Fred held up a finger, signaling quiet for a moment.

"Uh-huh. Yeah? Okay, I'll ask him." Freddy looked over at Coyote, putting on the best 'puppy-dog eyes' he could muster.

'He's gonna ask for something that might not be such a good thing to agree to,' Coyote groaned mentally.

Quit your whining brother! Raven admonished through the special telepathic link they shared. Their special telepathy was undetectable by human telepaths, making it handy for talking to one another over medium distances. It needed a quite a bit of concentration to perform over long distances however. Coyote performed the mental equivalent of sticking your tongue out, before turning his attention back to Fred.

"Whadda ya need kid?"

"Shawn's birthday is tomorrow and the X-men are having a party. Shawn wants to know if we want to come. He says he already got permission from Xavier." He intensified his "puppy-dog eyes" to Pup-con 4, maximum effectiveness. And even though it was Freddy who was using them, they _were_ effective. Coyote pretended to think about it, before nodding his head in agreement.

"Ah sure, why not? You go tell the others, I'll finish up in here." As he finished, Freddy bounded past him, shoving pot, spoon and phone into the spirits hands. Coyote chuckled for a moment before putting his ear to the phone. "Hey kid, Coyote here. We'll be there, count on it." As he hung up, he heard Fred in the living room.

"Hey guys guess what!" As Fred told them the news, Coyote chuckled. It looked like this would be one of the most memorable birthdays Shawn had ever had. And that was including the time he and Tom had gotten drunk and bought sixteen white tigers and set them loose on the dojo grounds. He had heard the paperboy was starting to show signs of upper brain activity.

---To Be Continued---

Well, for all you folks who wanted to meet Slash, there he be. Next time, things get messy as the Brotherhood comes to the party. Rick has an idea, Shawn gets a picture, Dante gets an admirer, and Logan just gets drunk. Plus more Slash and Shippo. And an appearance by Magneto. Until next time, Read & Review!


	25. Birthday Party of the Century!

                                                Take the Long Way Home

            Chapter 25 here!  Wow.  A lot of people like Shippo.  Well, enough of the small talk, let's get down to business.

            AN: ATTENTION EVERYONE!  Your attention please!  I have an important announcement!  Ahem; this is NOT a full-blown Inuyasha crossover!  Shippo is the ONLY character showing up from that show.  That is all.

Fluffy's numba 1 gal- I don't see what you're so mad about.  The series ended after the episode that showed Inuyasha and Kagome's kids.  I just made the stuff after that up.  And I don't know about introducing Fluffy, he seems like the type to keep out of sight in this modern day and age.

LW- Thanks man, here's that update you wanted.

Azuredragoness- It's only a slight crossover though.  I tell ya what, I'll trade ya.  My obsessive, loud, snoopy, foul mouthed sister for your two brothers.  Deal?  I mean; a two year old brother and a fourteen year old brother I have experience dealing with.  All you need is a cattle prod and a tire hanging from a rope for them to sleep in.

L1701E- It's gonna be a while before the next big team up, so sorry for the wait.  But I think I can incorporate those ideas into that chapter though.

Rosethorn-They act nothing alike, how could you confuse them?  Well, about Hiroshima, I'm a big history buff, and I think that a show of force would have worked just as well as the bombings had, but that's just my opinion.

Reliena- You want Queen, you got Queen!  Sorry, Adam has more pressing matters to attend to; he won't be at the party.

Shadowbeast1-Thanks man, but this storyline seems to iron out any wrinkles all on its own.  I could probably put in a mutant slime monster from the Black Lagoon and it would still find a way to fit in.  And no, I will _not_ be putting in a mutant slime monster from the Black Lagoon.

Animeluvr-you scare me.  And yep, you're right about Rick's idea.  Oh, and by the way…school talent show update is four words.  Ducks several heavy objects thrown at the area his head had been occupying a microsecond ago  Thanks Vegeta.  He glares at me  "Don't mention it.  _EVER_."  Gotcha.

Warconq-Hey man; long time no see!  Glad you like they way I incorporated Shippo; it was the only way I could think of to get both him and Slash into the story.

                                                                                                **WARNING**

            This chapter contains extreme amounts of insanity, with liberal amounts of fluff.  Those of you who are considered mentally stable may become seriously deranged after reading this chapter.  All of my friends should be fine though.  That is all.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer-I have a muse that can incinerate planets when he's grumpy.  Layers make him grumpy.  Any lawyers in the house?  There is a mad scramble for the door, lawyers beating each other with their briefcases in their panic  Guess not.

Chapter 25-Birthday Party of the Century!

            Scott strode in front of his troops, in full battle gear.  "Okay troops, this is it.  The enemy will be arriving at any moment.  We've gone over our battle plans, and you understand the dangers.  Are there any questions?"  Rick raised his hand.  He, Tabby, Sam and Jean were all in the line. None of them had their uniforms on.  "Yes Rictor?"

            "Are you done being an idiotic ass yet?  Shawn wanted me to help him set the karaoke speakers up."  Scott sighed and closed his eyes behind his visor as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

            "Alright then; anyone who wants to leave, just _leave_."  When he opened his eyes, only Jean was there; and she was looking at him like he was nuts.  He sighed again as he felt her worry for his sanity through their bond.  "Alright, alright, I'll go change."  He got another message through their bond, a warning this time.  "And I'll try to tolerate them.  But if they step out of line, I won't be responsible for my actions."  She nodded.

            "Good enough.  Who knows, maybe they've become a little more civilized?"  She and Scott shared a look… right before Scott burst out laughing, and began to stagger away, clutching at his sides.  A hairbrush smacked into the back of his head, but he was laughing so hard he didn't even feel it.

            A little ways down the hall, Shawn was sitting, chuckling as he looked at a picture.  It showed him, Hack, and Slash, with short black hair, dark eyes, and of course; human ears, laughing together.  Coyote was in the background, sneaking up on the trio, a water balloon in each hand.  Oblivious to their impending soaking, Shawn had Hack in a headlock, while Slash was giving his friend rabbit's ears for the picture.  All three of them had the biggest grins on their faces imaginable.  "Heh, good old Slash.  Count on him to remind me of old times, even when he's not here," Shawn chuckled.

            On the other side f the picture, there was a message in a messy scrawl.  "_Dear Crush, happy B-day.  Sorry I'm not there, but at least this way I can be there in spirit._

_                                                                                                                                    Slash"_

                                                                                                            -The Hood House-

            Lance was looking into the kitchen, where Coyote was busy with something or other.  "What are you guys doing?  C'mon, the party's gonna start soon!" Todd whined from the living room.  He and the rest of the Brotherhood were waiting in there.  Pietro was twitching uncontrollably, with Wanda growling at him to stand still for once in his life every so often.  Raven sighed as she watched with Fred, who was holding a small wrapped package, the birthday present that Coyote had gone and gotten earlier that morning.  "Before we leave," she spoke up, catching the attention of the Brotherhood, "I want to lay down a few ground rules.  No fighting, although arguments will be tolerated; no pranks unless you're working with someone from the Institute to pull it off, and most importantly, try to let bygones be bygones."

            "Well, at least she left us plenty of leeway," Todd commented to Fred from his perch on the larger boy's shoulder.  His friend nodded in agreement.  After a few more minutes, Coyote emerged from the kitchen with a plastic grocery bag held carefully in his hands.

            "What's that Brother?" Raven asked.  The hidden question behind the words was: is that something that I'll have to punish you for bringing?  Coyote grinned.

            "Just somethin' for the instructors at the Institute.  A kind of peace offering if you will.  Just in case."  He looked around at the eager faces.  "Well, what're we standing round here for?  There's a party to get to folks!"  As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire Brotherhood was out the door and piled into Lance's jeep, with the exception of Pietro, who was running alongside it.  It was a tight fit, but they managed once Todd retook his place on Fred's shoulder.  "HIGH-HO SILLLLLLVERRRRR!!!!!" Coyote shouted as Lance peeled rubber out of the boardinghouse's driveway.  As Thanatos watched them go impassively, he heard the faint sound of Raven's fist impacting against her brother's skull.

                                                                                                            -The Institute-

            "So we got everything up and ready?" Logan asked Storm.  The Institute's resident cook had been preparing snacks for the kids for the past three hours, and was just now putting out the last tray of them.  She nodded, looking fairly exhausted.

            "Yes, and I'm glad that we managed to get a large enough cake on such short notice," she replied, brushing back a loose strand of hair as she glanced at the huge chocolate and vanilla cake.  Logan just gave her a smile.

            "Why don't you go and put your feet up Roro?  Me, Chuck, Hank, Dante and this 'Coyote' guy oughta be able to handle the kids no problem."  Storm smiled at him before she went up to her room to take a nice relaxing nap.

            Outside, Jamie had roped some of the New Mutants into a game of hide-and-seek while they waited for the Brotherhood to arrive.  The rest of the students were killing time in various ways.  It actually hadn't been that hard to get them to agree, most of the older kids just thought that they could pretend to hide and then ditch the game.  Unfortunately, they hadn't counted on Razor's nose joining in.

            Jamie followed Razor as the little dinosaur followed another scent across the grounds.  He had already found Roberto, Jubilee and Bobby, and was now searching for Tabby, Sam and Rahne.  His little tracking partner suddenly stopped and wrinkled his snout in confusion.  He turned and looked up at Jamie, not as big a chore as it had been a while ago; the synthetic dinosaur had grown almost a foot and a half since he had been entrusted into Jamie's care.  "Something wrong?" Jamie asked.  His reptilian friend shook his head.

            -There's a strange scent here, one that doesn't belong to anyone I've smelt before- Razor chirped.  Jamie began to imagine what a big hero he would be for finding and catching an intruder on the grounds.  His face set in a determined look.

            "Let's find out who it is then, shall we?" he said, striding forward.  He slowed down and let Razor take the lead again once he remembered that he didn't have the slightest idea where he was going.  They stopped at the base of a tree that was fairly isolated from the rest of the grounds.  Razor began to sniff around the base of the tree, circling it a few times before looking up into the branches and growling.  As Jamie watched excitedly, Razor took a flying leap into the tree's branches.  Suddenly, muffled French curses, coupled with a few English ones that Jamie had heard Logan use when he had gotten pranked by Shawn, Bobby and Rick began to emanate from the tree.  After a few moments, things quieted down and a trench-coated someone fell from the tree, landing in a heap at Jamie's feet.  Razor leapt down after him, looking like the cat that had swallowed the canary.  Jamie looked at the lump at his feet, nudging it with his foot.

            "Hi Gambit."  Suddenly Razor looked up towards the gate.

            -The Brotherhood is here-  Jamie nodded.

            "Okay.  Bye Gambit, sorry about that."  With that, Jamie and Razor ran off.  Gambit just lay there; twitching.

            "Heeeellllpp…mmmeeeeee…"

            At the entrance to the Institute, the Brotherhood was being welcomed warily by Logan and Xavier.  As he got out of the jeep, Lance was pulled aside by Logan for a 'heart-to-black hole' talk.  "Listen kid, I'm only gonna say this once, after that it's open season, got it?" the feral growled.  Lance gulped and nodded, looking for someone, _anyone_, who could get him out of this situation.  He didn't see anyone, but someone saw him and began to head to the boys rescue, unnoticed by everyone else.

            "Now listen up punk, if I smell your scent on Kitty in a way that means that you've been getting a little to close, if ya know what I mean, I'll make you into a eunuch.  Got it bub?"  The entire time Logan was threatening him, he had a firm grip on Lance's collar.  Suddenly, another hand latched firmly onto Logan's wrist and squeezed it in a way that left Logan no choice but to let go, or have his arm paralyzed.

            "Listen, _bub_," Coyote growled, getting between Logan and Lance, "Lance knows better than to mistreat a lady.  And I don't see how any of this is your business.  The Brotherhood is under my care, so you take care of your kids and I'll take care of mine.  That okay with you?"  Logan glared at the other man, taking in the practiced ease with which this man had broken his grip, and the fact that he didn't seem the least bit intimidated by his patented Glare-o-Death™.

            "You Coyote?" he grunted.  Coyote grinned disarmingly.

            "Last time I checked."  Before anything else could be said, a ponytail-ed blur raced around the corner, through Coyote and Logan, before slamming into Lance and knocking the boy on his butt.

            "Hi Lance," kitty chirped from her perch on his chest.  Lance grinned weakly.

            "Hi Kitty.  Umm, not that I'm complaining, but could you please get off of me?" (Déjà vu anyone?) Kitty blushed, while Coyote chuckled at the teen's predicament.  Logan just held his head in his hands.

            "Why do I even bother?" he groaned.  Suddenly a cackling Pietro sped by, a whip cream covered Razor hot on his heels and gaining.  A pack of sugar hyped Jamies followed, carrying jumbo pixie-sticks like spears and whooping and giving war cries.  Coyote blinked, and looked at Logan who just groaned and shook his head in a "don't ask" manner.  While they were distracted, Lance and Kitty made their escape.

            "I say we get plastered before we try to face the rest of the pack," Coyote said, suddenly, grinning, "And I got just what the doctor ordered!"  He produced the grocery bag he had before, and pulled some bottles out of it.  "Doctor Jack Daniels that is!"  Logan and he shared a grin and dashed away to Logan's secret drinking room, which was actually Xavier's office.

            "Bub, I think this may be the beginnings of a beautiful friendship," Logan grinned, opening the first bottle.  "Cheers!"  There was a clink of glass as the door closed behind the two.

            As the two of them attempted to save what little sanity they had left (Ironically by drowning it in booze), Raven was introducing herself to the professor.  Hank had opted to stay inside, claiming that he had an important experiment to attend to in his lab and couldn't help with the party (Cut to the lab, where Beast is hanging from the ceiling from one arm, bottles of beer clutched in his other hand and both feet, doing his best mad scientist cackle.).  'Dang him, he's probably just hiding,' Xavier thought.  He glanced over at Toad, who had gotten into an argument with Kurt over some game or something.

            "I'm tellin' ya fur face, there's no way Donkey Kong could beat Yoshi!" Toad was yelling.

            "Ze jungle king vould never lose to a little lizard!"  Before the argument escalated, Shawn appeared, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders.

            "Guys, guys, if you want to settle your differences, there's a Gamecube in the rec room with Super Smash Bros: Melee in it."  The two headed towards the rec room, still arguing loudly, while Shawn zipped of to circumvent any other altercations.  He was having the time of his life.  Xavier breathed a sigh of relief, thanking whatever deities were currently controlling his pitiful existence.  He turned his attention back to Raven.

            "So you're Coyote's older sister?" he asked, not really curious.  Raven nodded in reply, just as bored as the professor was.  As they talked, they moved further into the mansion.  Raven froze suddenly as she saw Dante walk through the hall, scowling when Pietro raced by.  He neatly plucked the can of whipped cream the boy had obtained from who knows where from his hands.

            Pietro stopped on a dime, and scowled at the half demon.  "Hey that's my…_YIPE_!"  Quicksilver took off running once more as Razor skidded around the corner and lunged at a sensitive portion of the boys' anatomy.  The dinosaur was followed by the Jamie Hoard, who were all chanting something as they ran, still waving their pixie sticks like spears.

            "_ALLHAILTHESUGARGODSALLHAILTHESUGARGODSALLHAILTHESUGARGODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_" They cried.  (Translation: "All hail the sugar gods!" x3)  A few of the clones had made bows from empty pixie sticks and red licorice.  They were using Butterfingers as arrows.  Dante just shook his head and continued on his way, well used to this kind of behavior by now.  As he went, you could practically see the hearts floating around Raven's head and in her eyes.  Fred, coming out of the kitchen with a moderately small, for him, tray of snacks, noticed his mentor's sister's strange behavior.  He looked in the direction she was looking and groaned mentally.  He remembered what Coyote had told the Brotherhood about his sister and "hot" guys.

                                                                        -Flashback, the Hood house, the night after Raven's arrival-

            Coyote was cautioning his young charges on his sister's one major flaw, aside from that little 'p' word that all women suffer from, and all men suffer from _because_ women suffer from it.  "Remember guys, if she ever gets this really gooey look on her face, warn the guy she's lookin' at, try to hold her back for a few seconds to give him a good head start, then let go.  Do not, I repeat, do NOT attempt to hold on for more than four seconds, cause she'll judo flip your asses into the next century.  Yes, even you Freddy.  She may be small, but _damn_ she's wiry!"  Toad raised his hand.

            "What'll happen when we let go yo?  Hey, that rhymed!"  Coyote shrugged, ignoring that last part.

            "It's always the same.  She starts yelling stuff like, 'BABY!' and 'COME TO MAMA!', stuff like that.

                                                                                                            -End Flashback-

            Fred walked up and tapped Dante on the shoulder.  The man looked over his shoulder.  "Hmmmm?"

            "Uh, Mr. you might want to start running."  Dante glared at him.

            "Are you threatening me kid?"  Fred shook his head violently.

            "No sir.  It's just…" as Fred trailed off, he pointed behind Dante.  Dante turned slowly, and his eyes widened.  Raven was standing not four feet away, and you could practically see the hearts floating around her head.  Now Dante is quite capable of taking on demons, vampires, and general nasty ugly evil creatures, but when it came to aggressive girls, he didn't know how to react.  Nice, _normal_ girls that _he_ pursued were fine, but as we all know, if they're related to Coyote, they're _anything_ but normal.

            "Aw crap," Dante muttered.  He whirled back to face Fred.  "Kid, could you…?"  Fred nodded in understanding.  "Thanks."  With that, Dante took off in a flurry of red and white.  That was enough to start Raven into "hunt" mode.

            "**_BABY COME TO MAMA!!!!!_**"  She shouted.  Fred got in her way, and managed to block her way for a few seconds, before she managed to slip past him.  Toad, hopping out of the rec room to the tune of Kurt's laments about measly rotten lizards, was knocked over as Dante rushed past him, followed closely by Raven.

            "HEY!  What's goin' on yo?"  The two ignored him.  As he got up and dusted himself off, he took a glance outside, in the backyard, and suddenly grinned.  He had just spotted the karaoke machine in the backyard.  Shawn was standing next to it, and he seemed to be pleading with Maria.  Sam and Rahne were looking on, along with Amara, Bobby, Jubilee, Rick and Tabby.  Wanda was lounging in one of the deck chairs nearby, apparently taking a nap.

            "Aw c'mon, it's a really great song!" Shawn was pleading.  Maria, semi-scowling, arms crossed, shook her head.

            "No, I refuse to humiliate myself in public!"

            "So you'll humiliate yourself in private?" Rick asked.  "OW!" he cried as Tabby smacked him upside the head.  She shot an apologetic glance at Maria.

            "Sorry, I hope to have him trained before long," the klepto said apologetically, while Rick rubbed the back of his head and sent a low level glare at her back.  As Shawn continued to attempt to get Maria to agree, Fred, Todd, Lance and Kitty made their appearances as well.  Lance had his arms draped over Kitty's shoulders.  Behind them, the others could see Pietro zipping by, with Razor and the Jamie hoard still hot on his heels.  He took a quick glance behind him, and grimaced before pouring on the speed.  'Don't these guys ever get _tired_?!?!' he thought to himself.

            "Hey! Is that a karaoke machine?" Lance asked.  Shawn shot him a look, but reigned in his fraying temper, nodding a yes.  "Does it have any Montgomery Gentry?"  Shawn broke off his argument with Maria, and walked over to the table they had set the CD player on.  He pulled out a thick binder full of CDs and set it down on another table, shaking the table as it landed heavily.

            "I don't know, lets see."  Shawn flipped through the binder for a few moments, before finding the CD he wanted.  He beckoned Lance over, and they held a quiet conference before both of them nodded in agreement.  Lance strode over to the mike and took it in hand.

            "This is a song dedicated to…well, I think you guys all know who."  All eyes turned to Kitty, who blushed.  Lance nodded at Shawn, "Hit it buddy."  At that, Shawn popped the CD into place and started up the machine.  Lance waited for a moment as the instrumental started, then began singing, using the words on the screen only for guidance on how long to hold a word, having long since memorized the lyrics to this particular tune.

"My old man's, backhand used to land,

Hard on the side of my head.

But I just learned to stay out of his way."

There's been, streetfights, blue lights,

Long nights with the world sittin' on my chest:

But it just showed me how much I could take."

"Hard times, bad luck;

Sometimes, life sucks!"

            Kitty sighed as she remembered how Lance had always seemed to have it rough back in their hometown.  Even though he was feared by most, he had never been really respected, but she perked up as he launched himself into the refrain.

"That's all right, I'm ok.

It ain't nothin' but another day.

Only God knows where I'd be,

If you ever stopped lovin' me."

"The bank man, the boss man, the lawman,

All tryin' to get their hands on me.

And I ain't even done a damn thing wrong.

I've been waylaid, freight-trained, short-changed,

By bigger an' badder men.

An' all I got to say is: "Bring it on.""  At that, there was a rousing cheer from the boys in the audience.

"Hard rain, rough road,

So my life goes."

"That's all right, I'm ok.

It ain't nothin' but another day.

But only God knows where I'd be,

If you ever stopped lovin' me."

"I need you,

Gotta have you,

In my life, by my side,

Every day I'm alive,

Every night when I'm sleeping, I'm needing,

You!"

  He stopped as the instrumental began, catching his breath, before jumping into the finale.

"That's all right, I'm ok.

It ain't nothin' but another day.

But only God knows where I'd be,

If you ever stopped lovin' me."

"That's all right, I'm ok.

It ain't nothin' but another day.

But only God knows where I'd be,

If you ever stopped lovin' me."

"Baby, never stop lovin' me."

"Ah, just see, what your lovin' does to me."

            As the song ended, Kitty walked up to him amid the clapping and cheering, and silently wrapped her arms around his neck, before pulling him into a fierce kiss.  There were several hoots and catcalls, but the young couple didn't even notice them.  Tabby snapped a few pictures with the camera she had "borrowed" from Kurt.  In the meantime, Wanda had woken, and was looking around, wondering what exactly was going on.

            While the others were busy, Todd hopped over to the table, and flipped busily through the binder.  Finding the song he wanted, he slipped unnoticed to the player, and slid the disk in.  He got to the makeshift stage a few moments before the song began, and cleared his throat.  "Hey yo, this song is dedicated to someone very special to me.  She knows who she is, and I hope this song tells her exactly how much she means to me."  He took a breath as Wanda waited to see exactly what hip-hop, rap song he had chosen.  She didn't see why he hadn't just come out and said the song was dedicated to her; it was as obvious as Lance's dedication to Kitty.  But she, and the rest of the audience, were knocked on their butts in shock when Todd "the Toad" Tolensky began to sing softly.

            "You are…so beautiful…to me…"

                                                                        -Meanwhile, inside the Institute-

            Dante raced through the halls of the Institute.  Glancing behind him, he saw Raven, still hot on his heels.  The two had reached the teacher's wing when Dante had a method of escape come to him.  He darted into one of the rooms; Storm's to be exact, and slammed the door shut.  He locked it, and raced over to the balcony, throwing a "SorryI'lleplainlater," over his shoulder to the startled weather manipulator, before jumping off the balcony and swinging himself into the open window beneath it.  He landed in Rogue's room.

            Darting out of it, he raced down the hall, selected a door and barreled in.  He turned, slammed the door shut, turned once more and slumped against it, breathing a sigh of relief.  He looked up as he heard liquid being poured into a glass.

            Dante had ended up in the Professor's office.  Coyote and Logan, who were only on their second bottle, were sitting next to the desk, which had several unopened bottles still on it.  He wandered over and pulled up a chair.  "Booze.  Now," he demanded.  Logan slid him a shot glass, while Coyote handed over a bottle of whisky.  Dante ignored the glass, took the whisky, and began to drink straight from the bottle.

            Upstairs, Raven pounded on the door Dante had vanished into.  "Open up!  I only want to snuggle!" she shouted.  The door opened to reveal a slightly grumpy Storm.  The weather goddess arched one eyebrow.

            "I'm sorry, but you're just not my type," she said with a small smirk.  (AN: She's _definitely _been hanging around with Logan for to long.)  Raven's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, before she managed to regain control of her mouth.

            "I-I'm sorry, I thought I saw Dante…"  Storm interrupted her.

            "You just missed him.  He ran through my room and jumped off of the balcony.  I doubt you'll be able to find him now."  Storm paused and looked over the other woman.  "Pardon me for asking, but who are you exactly?"  Raven started.

            "Oh, how silly of me for not introducing myself!  I'm Raven, Coyote's sister."  Storm looked closely at the other woman.  In all of the forms she had faced Raven Darkholme in; the woman had always seemed to have a sort of predatory tendency about her.  This Raven had none of that; instead she exuded a sort of serene calmness, if you overlooked the whole "obsessed with Dante" thing.

            "Would you like to come in?" Storm asked.  Raven accepted, and soon the two were engaged in the one activity that seems to be a girl's greatest pastime: girl talk.

            Back outside, Shawn was attempting to scrape his jaw off the ground.  Not only had _Todd_ sung "You Are So Beautiful" to Wanda, and sung it _well_, but after the song had ended, Wanda had walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and given him a small kiss on the cheek before whispering a soft, "thank you" in his ear.  Todd just stood there in shock, as did everyone else who had witnessed it.  Finally the young amphibian had teetered over, and collapsed in a heap, a blissful smile on his face.  "My god Wanda, I think you killed him!" Tabby said.  Most of the girls had tears in their eyes, including Jean and Scott, who had come out to make sure there was some form of authority around, seeing as the adults had abandoned them.

            "Well," Shawn quipped, "At least he died happy."

            Rogue, watching from a distance, smiled slightly through misty eyes.  Her smile turned to a gasp as two arms encircled her waist and pulled her up against someone taller than her.  Someone in a brown trenchcoat.  "Leave meh ahlone (alone) swamp rat!" she scowled.  She felt Remy shake his head behind her.

            "Non, cherie, you is sad.  Gambit don like seeing you sad."  Rogue tried to pull away from the Cajun's comforting embrace, but her heart just wasn't in it.  "Cher, you know Remy don wanna hurt you, oui?"  Rogue nodded weakly.  "Den why youse always fightin' wit Remy?"  Rogue twisted away from him and glared at the thief.

            "Behcause yah stupid swamp rat!  Anyone I get reahlly close to gets hurt eventually!"  With that, Rogue stormed off into the mansion, leaving a slightly hurt Remy.

            Before the next singers, Shawn and Maria (who he had _finally_ convinced to sing the song he wanted her to sing with him, could take the stage, there was a commotion from the backdoor of the Institute.  Logan, Dante and Coyote staggered out of the building, arms slung over one another's shoulders so that it was impossible to say who was supporting who exactly.

            The trio moved with a strange swaying gait, as if they were walking on the deck of a ship at sea.  Suddenly, Dante spied the crowd of students, and the karaoke machine.  "Hey hic," he slurred to the others, "Why hic don we show theshe (these) kids how to really hic shing (sing)?"  In reality though, only Logan was really that drunk.  Coyote and Dante, being nonhumans, had a _much_ higher alcohol tolerance than the poor feral could ever hope to achieve.  They were only acting plastered, but they were still far from sober.

            Before they could get to the stage however, Shawn pulled Freddy down so he could whisper in the big fellow's ear.  Fred nodded in understanding, and went to stand in front of the trio, arms crossed and looking like the perfect bouncer.

            "I'm sorry boys, but you'll have to wait to get into the club.  We're at capacity right now."

            "Do you actually think they'll buy that, even if they _are_ drunk?!" Scott scoffed.  His jaw dropped however, as the three began to argue amongst themselves.

            "I _told_ you we should have left earlier!  But _noooo_.  'It's not that far a drive' you said, 'traffic clears up early around here' you said!" Coyote grumbled to Dante.

            "Well _excuuuuse_ me!  How was I supposed to know a sofa would break down in the middle of the living room and cause a ten armchair pile-up?!"  Logan just watched the two, a stupid grin on his face, occasionally taking a swig from the bottle he had in his hand.  The other two had bottles as well.

            Shawn turned to Maria, and gestured to the stage.  "Ladies first," he said, giving a grand bow.  Maria gave him a half scowl, half smile, and went up to the mike.  While Fred had distracted the drunken trio, Bobby had attached an extra microphone to the machine, so the two of them could sing at once.  Shawn slipped a disc out of his pocket and handed it off to Lance on his way to the stage, who slipped it into the machine.  He grinned to himself as he got up on the low platform.

            The disk he had handed Lance had been sent with the machine from his uncle.  In the letter enclosed with the machine, he had said that the disc had only one song on it, one that he thought would improve Shawn and Maria's relationship immensely, just singing it together.  Maria took a breath as the music began, and then…

            Maria started softly, blushing a bit at the lyrics.

"Kiss me too fiercely

Hold me too tight

I need help believing

You're with me tonight

My wildest dreams

Could not foresee

Lying beside you

With you wanting me

Just for this moment

As long as you're mine

I've lost all resistance

And crossed some borderline

And if it turns out

It's over too fast

I'll make ev'ry last moment last

As long as you're mine:"

            Then Shawn began, giving Maria a deep look that seemed to swallow her up.

"What am I doing?

What's this I feel?

The boy who was certain

Love isn't real

Somehow I've fallen

Under your spell

And somehow I'm feeling

It's "up" that I fell…"

            Then in chorus, ignoring everyone around them…

"Every moment

As long as you're mine

I'll wake up my body

And make up for lost time"

            Shawn took over again,

"Say there's no future

For us as a pair…"

Back to a chorus,

"And though I may know

I don't care!

Just for this moment

As long as you're mine

Come be how you want to

And see how bright we shine

Borrow the moonlight

Until it is through

And know I'll be here holding you

As long as you're mine."

            As they finished, there was a heavy silence as Shawn, in a repeat of the gesture he had done on that late night not so long ago, brushed a lock of hair away from Maria's face, and gently kissed her.  A kiss that she returned passionately.  The two broke away from each other, blushing, as they were treated to the same reaction from their friends that Lance and Kitty had received; catcalls and all.  Shawn gave a goofy grin, and proceded to join Todd on the ground in an unconscious heap, smiling.  "That must have been some kinda kiss," Lance grinned.  Maria looked a little shocked that her kiss had had that kind of effect.

            Fred, who had been asked to keep the drunks away until Shawn and Maria had finished their song, stepped out of the way and gestured towards the stage.  "Guys, we've just had a few people leave, you can go right in now."  Dante and Coyote forged forward, supporting Logan between them.  They dumped Logan in a chair, with Dante flinging himself into another.  Coyote stepped up to the machine after flipping through the binder and finding a disc that seemed to suit him.  He put it into place and stepped up to the mike.  Seemingly stone-cold sober, he tapped it a few times.

            "Hey, this thing on?  I'm gonna sing you guys a song that tell you my outlook on life.  The guys should appreciate it.  The girls…," he shrugged, "Feh."  He took hold of the mike and waited for the song to start.  When it did, he began to belt out the lyrics, somehow managing to stay in tune.

"Daddy's belt

Momma's drapes

Standin' tall on the backyard shed

Lookin' cool, in my superman cape

I told the neighborhood girl

Said "Hey y'all watch this"

My fate was a broken arm

and my reward, one big kiss

When daddy asked me why I did it

I made him laugh out loud when I told him

'Cuz the chicks dig it'"

            He immediately launched into the chorus with gusto.

"Scars heal

Glory fades

And all we're left with are the memories made

Oh yeah

Pain hurts

But only for a minute

Yeah life is short so go on and live it

Cuz the chicks dig it

Oh yeah the chicks dig it."

"Black top road

Learner permit

Thought I was Earnhardt

Drivin' fast

But I didn't see the ditch

Took out a mailbox, then a fence, then a barn.

The police came and called my father;

But I met the farmer's daughter

And when the judge asked me why I did it

He threw the book at me-e-e when I told him

Cuz the chicks dig it"

"Scars heal

Glory fades

And all we're left with are the memories made

Oh Yeah

Pain hurts

But only for a minute

Yeah life is short so go on and live it

Cuz the chicks dig it"

"Just throw caution to the wind my friend

Then sit back and watch your life begin,

Cuz…"

"Scars heal

Glory fades

And all we're left with are the memories made

Oh yeah

Pain hurts

But only for a minute

Yeah life is short so go on and live it

Cuz the chicks dig it.

Scars heal,

Glory fades

And all we're left with are the mem-_ries_ made

Pain hurts

But only for a minute

Yeah, life is short so go on and live it

It don't matter if you lose or if you win it

Hey, the chicks dig it

Oh yeah

The chicks dig it

mmmm

The chicks dig it

Ah hey oh yeha

The chicks dig it!"

            As he finished, the guys in the audience, with the exception of Shawn and Todd, rose and gave Coyote a standing ovation.  The girls on the other hand, weren't too impressed with the spirit's performance.  Kitty and Jean exchanged a look.  "Men," they snorted.  As Coyote stepped down, Dante stepped up.  They exchanged high fives as the passed each other.  When Dante got to the stage, he adjusted the mike, and looked over the crowd.

            "Alright kiddies, this is a personal favorite of mine, so it you don't like it…**_tough_**!!!!"  As he spoke, Shawn and Toad were stirring from their kiss induced comas.  Todd looked at Shawn as they sat up.

            "Did we just dream that?"  Shawn gave a goofy grin.

            "If we did then I intend to go right back to sleep!" Maria, recovered from the kiss, gave him a small shove with her foot, more playful than anything, to get him to get up.  Shawn retaliated by tugging her down on the ground next to him by her ankle.  After the two finished their playful little scuffle, Dante, who had been waiting patiently for them to stop, began to sing, assuming a low glare that would last for the entirety of the song.

"Steve walks warily down the street,

with the brim pulled way down low

Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,

machine guns ready to go.

Are you ready, Are you ready for this?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Out of the doorway the bullets rip

To the sound of the beat!"

"Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone, and another one gone,

Another one bites the dust!

Hey! I'm gonna get you too!

Another one bites the dust!"

"How do you think I'm going to get along,

without you, when you're gone?

You took me for everything that I had,

and kicked me out on my own.

Are you happy, are you satisfied?

How long can you stand the heat?

Out of the doorway the bullets rip

To the sound of the beat, YEAH!"

"Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust!"

"There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man

And bring him to the ground.

You can beat him,

You can cheat him,

you can treat him bad, and leave him

When he's down!

But I'm ready, yes I'm ready for you

I'm standing on my own two feet.

Out of the doorway the bullets rip

repeating the sound of the beat!"

"Another one bites the dust

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone, and another one gone

Another one bites the dust

Hey! I'm gonna get you too

Another one bites the dust!"

            When he finished, he took a low bow as he was greeted with a standing ovation, with the exception of Logan.  As Dante got off the stage, Logan got up and shakily made his way to the table.  After flipping through the binder for a moment, he selected one and handed it off to Dante, pointing at the song he wanted.  Dante raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

            As Logan prepared to sing whatever he had chosen, Raven and Storm made their way out of the mansion.  "I wonder where Charles has got to?"  Storm remarked as she and her new friend made a bee-line for the karaoke party.  (Cut to Beast's lab, where the scientist has now been joined by the professor, who is performing wheelies and spinning about in circles.  Beast is still cackling away.  Both are completely plastered.)  The two reached the outskirts of the gathering, just as Logan got to the stage.  He clutched at the mike, and, as the music started, began to sing.

            "Feelings…"

            Everyone present just about died laughing on the spot.

                                                                                                            -Magneto's Base-

            "So whaddaya need bossman?"  Pyro asked his employer.  He, Sabretooth, Thanatos and Colossus were gathered in the briefing room, alongside Mastermind.

            "We are going to attempt to fill our ranks, by "reprogramming" a few of my old friend Charles' students.  I need you all to provide a distraction while I abduct the student I've picked as a test subject.  I have it on good authority that the Institute's defenses are lowered, since one of their own is celebrating his birthday.  We go in, you distract the X-men and those traitors, the Brotherhood, and we get out with our, 'new recruit'.  Any questions?"  Sabertooth raised a hand.  "Yes?"  The feral gave a slightly mocking grin.

            "We get hazard pay outa this?"

---To Be Continued---

            Wooh, this is shaping up to be big time trouble.  Who does Magneto intend to recruit?  How will his carefully planned assault go?  Find out next time.   Until then, any suggestions welcome, and Read & Review!


	26. Party Crashers

Take the Long Way Home

Hey folks, chapter 26! And since my muses are working overtime, we're heading straight into the story, after the obligatory review replies of course.

X00001-Hey, thanks man. I like to think that writing is just like everything else. The more you practice it, the better you get at it.

Rosethorn- Ahhh, that explains it. About the whole "Chicks Dig It" question, I don't really know any girls that listen to country music, so I had to draw my own opinions on how girls would react to the song.

Fluffy's numba 1 gal- Ummm, I take the fifth? Oh, okay. Well, he's seen a lot of stuff, so naturally he'll have matured a little bit. Keyword there, _little_.

Moezy-Chan- will do. And when are you going to update your stories? I wanna find out what happens in those just as bad as you wanna find out what happens in mine.

Animeluvr1-Sorry, I forgot to put Rick's idea in. But it _will_ be in this chapter, _promise_!

Raliena- You're welcome.

L1701E-Well, you wanted to know who's getting taken? Here it is. And Magneto's gonna end up with a two for one deal he'll regret for a _lifetime_!

Andivari- Ahh, I understand muses being stubborn. Glares at Vegeta, who is sitting back in a Hawaiian shirt, sipping a Pina colada

LW-Yeah, it would have, but I figured "Another One Bites the Dust" was more Dante's style. Well…I wouldn't say best author on the _site_, but I like to think I'm pretty good.

AzureDragoness-Snaps fingers _DAMN_! I was _sure_ that you would take the brat off my hands! Ah yes, fluff and insanity. Even a guy like me can appreciate those two factors, especially the insanity. Did I detect a _challenge_ in that PS? Who have you got for _your_ muses anyway? And speaking of muses, I've brought in another freelancer fight muse, since the monkey prince isn't working as hard as he should be. "_WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU BAKA _$#%_!!!_" Please put your hands, claws, whatever you've got, together for… _BLACKWARGREYMON!!!!_ The intimidating dark warrior just nods before he retires to the muse room. Apparently he's a muse of few words.

Alleycat588-Yes, Logan singing _that_ song. He'll probably deny it when he's sober, but that's what security cameras are for. Yeah, sweet dreams for Toad. Well, lets find out who Buckethead set his twisted sights on.

KyLewin-Dang, it didn't work then! Using the karaoke as an excuse to get the guys kisses; what an imagination! Does shifty eyes

Warconq- Heh, you and your co-workers are very welcome. Comedy is a truly great weapon and I wield it with pride. I like to think that giving people something to laugh at is just a small civil service I provide.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, to them you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Chapter 26- Party Crashers

"Man, that was _nuts_!" Rick 'Rictor' Carter said, flinging himself into a chair. Shawn O'Reily, his roommate and friend, sat in another chair nearby and leaned back, stretching. The rest of the guests for his birthday party were scattered throughout the backyard. A few were over by the snacks, where Storm and Raven were dishing out cake. Shawn looked around suddenly.

"Hey, where's Todd?" Rick sat up as well and looked around. Todd was nowhere in sight.

"We better go find him before he gets in trouble." The two nodded and got up, passing by a passed out Wolverine. After his big solo, the feral had teetered on his feet for a moment before hitting the floor. Dante and Coyote had dragged him over to the side, and were now immersed in their bottles once again. Raven and Storm had attempted to confiscate them, but once Dante had shown them exactly how fast a draw he was with his pistols, the two women had agreed to let the two drink themselves into insensibility before trying to take their precious liquor.

As Rick and Shawn made their way into the mansion, Shawn suddenly cocked his head to the side. He nudged Rick in the ribs. "Hey, you hear that?" Rick paused for a moment, then he faintly heard the sounds of drums coming from further in the mansion. The two began to follow the sounds, which got louder as they progressed.

"Whoever it is, they're not half bad," Rick commented after a particularly good bit. Eventually, the two came to a stop in front of a door leading to a storage room. "Hey, isn't this where you and your uncle stored that drum set Hack left you?" Rick asked. Shawn nodded. When Rick had first arrived, he had heard Shawn and Sam discussing the possibility of bringing the set out of storage, if for nothing else than to mess around on it sometimes. He opened the door. Their jaws dropped at the sight that greeted them. Todd was seated at the now assembled drum set, eyes closed as he played. He was playing so fast the drumsticks seemed to be smoking. As they looked on, an idea began to form in Rick's mind. Suddenly, with a final flourish of the sticks, Toad stopped playing, his eyes still closed. They shot open as his previously unknown audience began to applaud.

Back outside, the party was in full swing. Even Maria had let her guard down somewhat and was enjoying herself. Jamie and his clone army had finally come down off their sugar high, and were stretched out on the lawn, with a worn out Razor sleeping next to the original Jamie, a scrap of Pietro's pants between his teeth. The speedster in question had collapsed on the back porch, out cold. No one seemed to notice the dark shadow that crept over the Institute wall, before cloaking itself in the shadows.

Thanatos chuckled to himself as he watched the party. 'Idiots,' he thought, as he pulled a small pouch from his cloak. He took a small greenish pill out and began searching for a target. He smiled as he saw Maria, Kitty and Rogue set down their cans of pop. Quickly pulling two more pills from the pouch, he took careful aim, and tossed them towards the cans. Each pill landed perfectly in a separate can and began to dissolve rapidly in the carbonated liquid. Within not even two seconds, they had dissolved completely. Thanatos gave a dark chuckle before moving off to find more targets. The more drinks he drugged, the less resistance when Magneto appeared.

Back inside, Shawn and Rick were firing questions rapid-fire at Todd. "How'd you learn to play the drums?"

"How long have you been playing?"

Toad held his hands up to try and stem the tide of questions, but not before Rick launched one final salvo.

"Would you be able to play in a band?" Shawn and Todd both looked at him at that one.

"Something's cooking in that space between your ears again, isn't there?" Shawn asked. Rick nodded.

"Well, I've been turning the idea of forming a band over in the back of my mind, but I didn't know where to find a drummer." He looked at Toad like he was a godsend. "So," he said to Todd, "How _did_ you learn to play the drums?"

Todd shrugged. "When I was living on the streets in New York, before Mystique found me, I used to hang around this music shop. The owner was blind yo, and he needed help around the place sometimes, basic stuff like inventory and setting up some of the instruments. In return for my help he'd give me a meal sometimes, and he taught me how to play the drums yo. He said I was a natural." As Todd finished his story, Rick nodded.

"He was right. You're _really_ GOOD!!!" He looked around. "So are you two interested?" Todd and Shawn looked at each other for a moment.

"Who else were you considering asking," Shawn asked.

"Lance, Roberto, and a few others. Soooo…" Rick shot a questioning look at them, "Whadda ya say?" Shawn and Todd looked at each other, then looked back at Rick.

We're in!" they chorused. Rick nodded, and offered his hand. The other two took it, one after the other.  
  
"Here's hoping that we can manage to get this off the ground." Shawn and Todd nodded, before the three of them left the storage room to get back to the party.

"Well," Shawn said as they went, "I've managed to find a new home for Hack's drums. Now I just need to find a home for Slash's stuff."

-Bayville Sewers, The Morlock Tunnels-

Sebastian Kamiya twitched as he slept, coming into a sort of half-doze. He vaguely felt something rubbing his ears. He distantly felt himself start to growl lowly in pleasure. A sudden thought had his eyes snapping open and his low purr of pleasure turning into a snarl. 'Somebody's _touching_ _MY_ **_EARS_**!!!' He attempted to rush forward and rip the offender's arm off, but found himself restrained by some sort of rope. He stopped suddenly as he heard Shippo's voice.

"I told you he didn't like people touching his ears," the Kitsune said matter-of-factly. The person in front of him shrugged, after backing off a little from the enraged mutant.

"But they're soooooooo _cute_!!" she squealed, revealing herself as a girl. Slash, after calming down a moment, took a closer look at her, and regretted his initial rage. She was kinda cute. She was about five foot four, with light brown hair, streaked with light green. She had mischievous green eyes and a rather generous figure as well. "Hi," she waved, "I'm Thorn."

"Sebastian, but I prefer Slash." Slash suddenly noticed that he was tied down with what appeared to be some sort of plant roots. "_AND WHY THE **HELL** am I tied up_!!!" A shadow moved into the light, revealing itself as a medium sized, humanoid…**_rat_**?!?!

"Merely a precaution, until my superior arrives. I am Capybara." Shippo, who had been silent up until then, spoke up.

"The world's largest rodent?" he nodded, "makes sense. But aside from that, who exactly are you, and why have you restrained us?" As he finished speaking, a rhythmic clanking sound approached the group. Shippo and Slash's ears swiveled to lock in on the sound, while Capybara and Thorn relaxed slightly.

"Ah here is the third member of our little clique," the humanoid rodent said, gesturing into the darkness. Slash and Shippo, with their superior vision, were able to just barely make out a four legged shape coming into view, a flash of gold coloring visible here and there. Red optics were the next thing they made out. Finally, the figure came into view, and Slash let off an impressed whistle.

"A Shadowfox. Impressive." Shippo was grinning ear to ear.

"Nice," Was the only thing he said. The mechanized fox was about four feet high at the shoulder, four and a half if you included the Vulcan gun mounted on it's back.

"Exo, I assume that Calisto is right behind you?" Capybara asked. The mech nodded, before it became engulfed by a strange, steel-gray cloud. After a few seconds, in which sounds like metal coming apart at the seams emanated from the strange cloud, it disappeared, leaving behind a boy in tattered overalls and a plain white T-shirt, as worn as the overalls. He had brown hair that seemed to sweep back on it's own, making him look somewhat like the wolf-man, and hazel-green eyes. He didn't appear to be much older than twelve, and was just under five feet tall.

"Yeah Cappy, she's comin'. She's bringing Caliban with her too, somethin' about him not telling her about the second mutant traveling the tunnels." Shippo's ears perked up at this bit of information.

"You have someone among you that can detect other mutants?" Cappy glared at the fox.

"Yes, what of it?" Slash answered for his teacher.

"He's just gets really curious about stuff he's never heard about before. On a different note…how 'bout cutting us loose. I don't bite, and I'm pretty sure we've both had all our shots." As he said this, he tried to smile disarmingly. Pretty hard when you've got fangs. Thorn shot a look at Cappy, who shook his whiskered head.

"Not until Calisto has talked to them and judged whether or not they're dangerous." Thorn turned back to Slash and gave him an apologetic shrug. The boy sighed, and twisted a little in his bonds. He looked over at his sensei, who appeared perfectly comfortable. Then his eyes narrowed a fraction. Shippo's hands were free!!! He locked eyes with his teacher, who gave him a friendly wink, followed by a minute shake of his head. Slash nodded imperceptibly, and settled back. He looked over at Exo, and, resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going anywhere soon, decided that he might as well try and get to know the boy.

"So," he said conversationally, "you like Zoids?" The boy's face brightened and the two began to debate which type of Zoid was best in certain situations. If there was one thing besides eating and fighting that Slash loved, it was anime. The boy was an Otaku and proud of it!

-The Institute-

When Shawn and his friends got to the backyard, they stopped in shock. Most of the partygoers were stretched out on the lawn, passed out. The only ones left awake were Dante, Coyote and Lance, who was frantically trying to wake up a slumped over Kitty. "C'mon, wake up!!" he pleaded, shaking her gently. Shawn, Rick and Todd rushed to their respective love interests and began to attempt to wake them as well. Shawn checked for Maria's pulse, and sighed in relief when he found it, strong as ever.

"Maria seems okay, her pulse and breathing are strong and steady," he called to the others. He settled his girlfriend into a comfortable position, and began to move from person to person, checking their vitals. He noticed that a few still had cups or plates in their hands. All of them were the same, no serious problems, just unconscious. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a white powder, nearly invisible against the white icing on the half-eaten piece of cake that was still in Freddy's hands. Rick looked up from where he was now checking on Beast.

"They're all out cold!" he yelled to the others. A dark chuckle from one of the trees had their heads turning. Thanatos dropped to the ground, his robes seeming to pool around him like shadows. The boys immediately tensed, Shawn, Todd and Lance dropping into fighting crouches, while Rick tensed his arms. The disfigured fighter just chuckles again.

"Of course they're out cold, that's what knockout drugs are supposed to do," he laughed. Shawn scowls and steps to the front, leaving an opening for Rick and Toad to fire through if the man attempted to attack.

"What do you want Thanatos?" He looked at Shawn, his eyes bright with dark mirth.

"Oh it's not what _I_ want," As he spoke, Colossus, Sabretooth, Pyro and Gambit appeared from the direction of the east wall, while Magneto appeared overhead, with three of his transport spheres tagging along behind him. "Thanatos pointed upwards to Magneto, "It's what _he_ wants!"

"I'll take death-breath, you guys take the others. **_GO_**!" Shawn launched forward in an attack on Thanatos, sweeping his staff out of his hands with a well placed karate chop and following that up with a kick to the stomach. Thanatos grunted, but didn't attack. Instead he looked to Magneto. The white haired mutant nodded, and Thanatos suddenly leapt to the attack, lashing out at Shawn with a low kick. Shawn defended, and the two began to exchange blows at a furious pace.

Meanwhile, Lance had squared off against Gambit. "I assume that you're doing this under protest?" Lance asked, as he saw Gambit shoot a worried look towards Rogue, who was slumped in a lawn chair. Gambit locked eyes with his poker buddy and nodded.

"Then I'll make this look tough." As Lance spoke, the earth behind Gambit rose up, and formed into an open hand. It made a grab at the Cajun, but he dodged, quickly charging and throwing a card. The hand closed around it and exploded. Gambit turned to face Lance, but stopped when he saw the smirk on the younger man's face. "That was just a distraction," Avalanche said, pointing down. Gambit looked down, and found that, while he had been recovering, small tendrils of earth had reached up and wrapped themselves around his feet and legs loosely. Suddenly they drew tight, and Gambit found himself effectively immobilized.

"Dat's a good move mon ami, but not good enough." Gambit drew a card and charged it for a few seconds, before wedging it between two of the tendrils. The explosion was small enough that it didn't injure the thief, but it was powerful enough to free one leg, and allow him to free the other leg. He extended his Bo and twirled it experimentally. "Round two."

Meanwhile, Rick and Toad were extremely nervous. They were facing some pretty powerful odds. Four to one, with three of the Acolyte's more powerful members, and the bossman himself. Magneto gestured, and Sabretooth and Colossus advanced on the two. Pyro however, slipped off to the side, and made his way over to Amara, who was beginning to stir. "'Ello there sheila." He said, as she opened up her eyes.

"Wh-who are you?" she croaked. He gave a small grin as he produced his lighter. He flicked it into life, and formed a rose out of flame, which he presented to her.

"St. John Allerdyce. And you must be an angel that fell from heaven sheila." Amara looked at him like he was crazy, but didn't protest as he helped her into a sitting position. She was still weak from the drugs Thanatos had put into her drink, but the her iternal body temperature was burning them away, so she was recovering faster than everyone else. "Need anythin' Sheila?" John asked. She shook her head, her eyes wide as she watched Shawn and Thanatos pass by, a flurry of fists and feet.

Back with Toad and Rick, the two were panting heavily. So far they had avoided taking any major hits from the duo, but they exhausted from dodging so much. Rick had attempted to knock them out with his concussive blasts, but Sabretooth had been able to dodge them, and Colossus had merely gotten up after being knocked down. Sabretooth tried to charge the two boys and catch them off guard, but his charge was cut short by Dante's arm coming out of nowhere and clothslining the feral to the ground.

"I don' think tha tha's shuch a good idea," he slurred. He and Coyote, finally noticing the fight, had gotten up and advanced on the two Acolytes undetected. Coyote stood next to the half-demon, swaying slightly. Sabretooth wrinkled his nose as he got a whiff of the pair. 'They smell like a distillery!' he thought. Suddenly Coyote looked at Dante.

"Hey Dante, how bout showin' me the proper way to throw a punch?" Dante smirked and walked up to the still slightly stunned Sabretooth. The feral shook his head and grinned. 'Might as well toy with the poor bastard before I kill him' he thought. The feral held still and let the demonstration commence.

"It's easy. First, roll your hand into a fist." Which he did. "Then, raise your arm level with you head, pull back, and assert yourself." **_POW_**!!! Sabretooth was out of this fight. Apparently he had underestimated a demon strength fueled punch. Coyote nodded.

"Hey let me try!" The spirit advanced on Colossus, and punched the huge Russian in the face "**_AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH_**!" While Colossus was still in his armored form. Coyote immediately stuck his hand in his mouth and began to suck on it, mumbling curses under his breath the entire time.

Up in the air, Magneto sighed and rubbed the bridge if his nose. "If you want something done..." he sighed. He gestured, and one of the orbs floating serenely beside him traveled down to the ground, hovering behind Rick. The western mutant, after throwing a sonic punch in Colossus's direction, turned once he heard the slight humming noise coming off of the orb.

"The hell?" he muttered.

Suddenly, a port in the side of the sphere opened up, and three metal tentacles snaked out. Lightning fast, they whipped around his body, pinning his arms at his sides. He struggled vainly as the tentacles began to reel him in.

Shawn, seeing Rick's plight from his fight with Thanatos, panicked. "Hold on!" He yelled. He kicked Thanatos away and used the zanzoken to get to his roomates side faster, leaving the mercenary punching through an afterimage and falling to the ground. He grabbed on to Rick's legs and began to pull, trying with all his might to pull his friend free.

Instead he was caught by some of the tentacles and was pulled along with his friend into the orb. Magneto noded with satisfaction, and gestured with both hands. The orb containing the two X-men rose into the air, while the other two descended. They opened as well, and sprouted tentacles that nabbed the Acolytes, none to gently I might add, before rising into the air to hover alongside Magneto. As Pyro was picked up, he gave a cheery wave to Amara, who was watching in stunned silence. "See ya later love!" he yelled. Dante snarled and drew his pistols, aiming for Magneto.

"Eat hot lead, **_bitch_**!" he snarled. Coyote grabbed his arm as he fired, knocking his shots awry. Dante turned on him. "**_WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR_**!" he yelled. Coyote knocked on his forehead.

"Hellloooo, think about it. If you shoot him, those pods crash. And I don't think they have seatbelts and airbags in them." Magneto laughed.

"Please tell my dear friend Charles that two of his students have decided to transfer their loyalties to me." With that, he flew off, the orbs trailing behind him.

Inside their orb, Shawn and Rick were struggling vainly against the tentacles that held them. Ricks eyes were rolling in his head, and he was beginning to hyperventilate. "Gottagetoutgottagetoutgottagetout," he chanted at a hyper fast speed. Shawn would have tried to calm his friend, if he hadn't been so preoccupied with escaping from his bonds. Suddenly, here was a hissing sound, and a purplish gas. Both boy's eyes rolled into the back of their heads as the gas knocked them out. Silenly, the orb followed it's master towards his secret base, and the fate he had intended for them.

---To Be Continued---

Well, those two are in a world of trouble, I can tell you that right now. What'll happen when they arrive at their destination? Find out next time. Until then, Read & Review, and any suggestions are welcome!


	27. I Wouldn't Go in There If I Were You!

Take the Long Way Home

Well people, it's on to chapter 27. What happens when you take two PO'd psychic entities who can materialize in the real world, one mind entering, memory altering mutant, one pissed off, **_HIGHLY_** dangerous girlfriend and one just as dangerous semi-girlfriend, a psychopath bent on world domination, a love struck firebug, a dangerous adversary, and a few hapless victims along for the ride and mix it all together? You get this chapter.

AzureDragoness- I think we can forgo the descriptions. So what if one of your muses is a souleater, BWGmon and Coyote don't_ have _souls!!! The jury is still out on Vegeta though. I **_still_** say that my muses can kick your muses' butts!

Animeluvr1-Yeah, I went back and changed it so that it doesn't sound so fruity now. Yes, Tabby _and_ Maria are both on the warpath now.

Alleycat588- **_I'M SOR-HAR-RYYYY!!!!!_**

L1701E- You'll find out who Magneto wanted and why here my friend.

KyLewin- Oh come **ON**! Do you **_REALLY_** think that Bahumut and Smaug would put up with some Italian monkey (no offense to anyone Italian who looks somewhat monkey-like) rooting around in Shawn's head! And you'll have to thank Legendary Warrior for the Batman reference; he's the one that convinced me to put it in there somehow.

Andivari- Heh-heh, not pretty indeed. And he's not the only one that gets a taste of punishment. Let's just say that Thanatos and Sabretooth won't _ever_ want to try this plan again.

X00001- I wouldn't say fighting _exactly_. It's more of a brief slaughter.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer- OGAHBOOGAHBOOGAH!! Ha! **_THAT_** scared the lawyers away!

Chapter 27- I Wouldn't Go In There if I Were You!

Shawn moaned in pain as he slowly regained consciousness. He quickly shook the cobwebs out of his head however, when he heard Magneto speaking to him. "I have to apologize, the particular type of knockout gas we used on the two of you tends to cause slight muscle cramps." Shawn opened his eyes to find Magneto, Sabretooth, and a man who bore a _striking_ resemblance to a monkey standing around him. Sabretooth was leaning against a wall, picking his teeth with his claws, while Magneto and monkey-man were standing right in front of him. Magneto noticed the young Shinobi's eyes open, and smiled grimly. "Welcome back to the land of the living Mr. O'Reily. I trust you had a pleasant flight."

Shawn opened his mouth to retort, and found that he was wearing a facemask similar to the one he had seen used on Hannibal Lector in "Hannibal". Magneto smiled once more. "You'll forgive the precaution, but I thought it wise to make sure that my base didn't go up in flames the moment you awoke." Shawn scowled around the mask, but didn't rise to the bait, instead he said the first thing that came to mind, other than how slowly he was going to eviscerate the three of them, over a bed of hot coals perhaps.

"Where's Rick!" he demanded. Magneto simply pointed to Shawn's side. Rick was there, unconscious and strapped to a chair much like Shawn was, except he had some sort of containment device strapped onto his hands instead of a facemask.

"Mr. Carter is still unconscious, but unharmed otherwise. You and he are going to be going through a small…change in views," Magneto said. Shawn glared.

"So what's the big scheme ya walkin' lodestone?" Magneto smirked.

"Since it won't matter in a few moments, I might as well tell you. Mastermind here," he indicated monkey man, "is going to rewrite your memories so that _I_ am the one you pledge your loyalty to, instead of that weak hearted fool Xavier. I originally intended to only capture Rictor, since he is the newest mutant at the Institute, and therefore not as loyal to Xavier yet, but _you_ were a prize to good to pass up. Your training, part of the reason you were caught as well, makes you particularly dangerous though, which is why you've been selected to undergo the process first." Magneto turned with a flourish of his cape that Shawn was _sure_ he practiced in front of a mirror, and walked out, after giving Sabretooth his orders. "Watch them, and if anything goes wrong, alert Thanatos and the others immediately. I'll be in my quarters. Alert me when the procedure has been completed." And then he was gone.

"So," Shawn smirked at the Italian mindreader, "what's on your mind monkey-butt?" Mastermind just sighed and placed his hands on Shawn's temples. As he began to enter the young boy's mind, he suddenly realized that Shawn had a smirk of triumph on his face. Something was wrong here! Panicking, Mastermind attempted to pull out of the boy's consciousness. But another, stronger mind pulled him the rest of the way in. In the physical plane Mastermind suddenly stiffened. Inside Shawn's mind however, was a different story.

Mastermind looked about himself fearfully. His consciousness had been pulled into the Nexus, where it was now being towered over by Smaug and Shawn. Bahumut just lay in the entrance to his portion of their mind, watching the other two. All the time Magneto had been talking, they had been conducting an impromptu council of war. It had been decided that Bahumut and Shawn would deal with the intruder, while he dealt with the security. He gave a smug reptilian grin as he faded out of the mind. Back in the physical plane, Sabretooth just stood picking his teeth, not noticing the cave mouth that was forming on the wall behind him.

Back in Shawn's mind, Bahumut and Shawn had just finished restraining Mastermind with some rope Bahumut had had in his section of the mind (AN: Ask me no questions about this, I'll tell you no lies.) and were currently debating what to do with him. "Bahumut, you know perfectly well that we can't kill him in her! The residue from his mind could end up trapped here, and then it would probably end up forming some stupid evil persona that would try to take over my body!" Shawn protested. Bahumut, who had summoned his sword and was swinging it experimentally over Mastermind's head, pouted like a spoiled child.

"Awwww, you never let me have any fun!" Shawn looked at him for a moment.

"Calling. Out. Pyror," he said evenly. Bahumut shrugged.

"Your point. But back to the matter at hand…" he turned and regarded Mastermind with an evil glare, "what do we do with this fourth rate mind bender?" Both minds pondered this, their eyes scanning the emptiness that was the Nexus. They regarded the entrances to Shawn's room, Bahumut's little garden park, and Smaug's cave. Simultaneously their eyes came to rest on the fourth and final door in the Nexus. They looked at each other and grinned wickedly. "Shawn?"

"Yeah?"

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Yeah, we're going to go to hell for this aren't we?"

"Well **_DUUUH!!!_**" All the while, Mastermind fearfully regarded the barred and bolted and boarded-up door that led into Shawn's subconscious mind.

Back at the Institute, everyone had shaken off the effects of the gas and they were assessing the damage. Toad and Lance were beating themselves up over the fact that they had let Magneto get away with two of their friends, while Kitty and Wanda did their best to console them. Tabby wandered over to where Amara was sitting away from everyone else. "Hey, what's got you so bummed?" asked the blond. Amara shook her head slightly.

"I don't know. It's just…that boy, the one called Pyro?" She looked at Tabby, who nodded for her to continue. "Well, it's just that he didn't actually seem to be a bad person. He helped me into a more comfortable position, and he acted as if he didn't know, or care that I was the enemy." She blushed suddenly, "And I think he _flirted_ with me!" she added. Tabby smiled a little, and, after comforting the young princess about the fact that she couldn't have known about the drugged food, turned and walked back into the mansion. She headed down to the lower levels, and made a beeline for Cerebro. She found Maria pacing in front of the door. There was a path beginning to form in the floor. She looked up as Tabby appeared, before resuming her impatient pacing. "Still no sign of them?" Tabby asked, a note of worry making its way into the happy-go-lucky girl's voice.

Maria shook her head. "The professor's been in there for the last half hour. Of course," she added in a nasty voice, "the fact that he was this close," she held two of her fingers up and pinched them together to demonstrate, "to being piss-faced drunk doesn't really help things much." Tabby laid a hand on the feral clone's shoulder, stopping the other girl's pacing.

"Hey," she said with a half smile, "Relax. I mean, this is Rick and Shawn we're talking about. I'll bet that by the time we find them, they'll have already escaped and made it back home." Maria sighed.

"You're right. Except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"This is Rick and Shawn we're talking about." Tabby was quite for a moment, before she looked at the door to Cerebro, and then back to Maria.

"Move over." The two began to pace side by side.

-Back in Magneto's lair-

Sabretooth stretched from his position at the wall. Mastermind had been in the kid's mind for about ten minutes now, with no sign that he was letting up anytime soon. 'Ah well, I just hope the runts don't get in the way once they've been reprogrammed.' He stopped in mid-stretch when he felt something wrap around his ankles. "**WHAT** **THE!!!?**" was all he had time to shout before Smaug became visible in the center of the room, standing guard over the boys. His tail was wrapped around Sabretooth's ankles. After his cave had formed, giving him access to the real world, Smaug had turned invisible, (AN: YES THEY CAN DO THAT!) and silently made his way to the center of the room. After he had accomplished that, he wrapped the end of his tail around Sabretooth's ankles. Suddenly, he spoke in a breezy sort of voice, although still deep as ever.

"Hang on to your butt kitty, it's gonna be a _bumpy_ ride!" Apparently he had figured out how to manipulate the air inside of his corporeal form so he could 'speak' without having to bother Shawn. As soon as the words had left his…ummm…snout, he began to whip Sabretooth around the room, like you would see in a cartoon. **WHAM!** **BAM!** **SMASH!** **CRASH!** **CRUNCH!** **WHAP!** As he was doing this, Rick began to stir.

He opened up his eyes and took in the scene before him. A ghostly version of Shawn's full dragon form, which he concluded must be Smaug, was whipping Sabretooth around like a rag doll, apparently without effort. Some monkey-man was standing over Shawn, hands on Shawn's temples, with both of their eyes closed. "Aw man," he groaned, "That gas stuff is making me hallucinate too!" He suddenly noticed his restraints. "The hell?" he muttered. He attempted to flex his arms and fire off a sonic burst to free himself, but the restraints on his arms made that next to impossible. Smaug, still flailing Sabretooth around, looked down at the kid and gave a reptilian grin.

"Relax kid, I'll have you out in a sec." He smacked Sabretooth's skull upside the wall once more, looked critically at the dazed and bewildered expression on the feral's face, and nodded in satisfaction. He tossed Sabretooth against a wall, before turning his attention to freeing Rick. Sabretooth looked around dazedly for a moment.

"But mommy, I don't wanna go to the vet again!" he whined, before passing out.

Inside Shawn's mind, Shawn and Bahumut were leaning back in some chairs Bahumut had produced from his section of the mind, listening to the various screams and cries for mercy coming from behind the door leading to Shawn's sub-consciousness. Shawn looked over at Bahumut. "So how long has he been in there?"

Bahumut checked his watch. "About twenty minutes. Ya think we should let him out?" Shawn nodded. Bahumut sighed, and snapped his fingers. Mastermind appeared before them, huddled in the fetal position and rocking back and forth, whimpering 'no more leeches' over and over and over at a fast pace. Bahumut looked at Shawn. "Well kid, I got him out of your sub-conscious, now you get him out of our head." Shawn nodded and concentrated. A door, labeled exit appeared in the wall next to the entrance to Shawn's room. Shawn walked over to the prostrate mind reader and grabbed him by the collar. When he got to the door, he propped it open, revealing a swirling multi-colored vortex, and grabbed the Italian by the collar and the seat of his pants. He heaved, and flung Mastermind out of his mind.

****

"**_And stay out, YA BUM!!_**" he yelled as the door closed and disappeared. Bahumut nodded.

"Nice touch kid," he grinned. He got up and stretched. "Now whadda ya say we get out of here? I'll go take care of Mag-nutso."

"Fine, but remember, death-breath is mine." Bahumut nodded in understanding.

Back in the physical plane, Mastermind suddenly collapsed, pulling himself into the fetal position and rocking back and forth. He began to whimper "no more leeches" over and over and over at a fast pace. Rick looked at the man, then looked at Shawn, who had opened his eyes. "Dude, what happened to him?" Shawn smirked through his facemask.

"Let's just say that the reason I usually act out of my mind is because it's dark and scary in there." Rick nodded slowly, rubbing his wrists as Smaug finished freeing him.

"Riiiiggghhht," he drawled. Bahumut appeared then, seeming to step out of thin air. He took Shawn's situation in, and then drew his sword.

"Hold still kid," he said, using the same trick Smaug had. The ghostly sword flashed around Shawn's head and torso for a moment, before stopping. There was a brief silence, when it appeared that the attack hadn't accomplished anything. Rick opened his mouth to comment, when…**CRASH** the entire ensemble fell apart. Bahumut looked expectantly at Rick. "Well?"

"Never mind," the western mutant shrugged. Bahumut rolled his eyes.

"God save me from all teenagers," he groaned, before gliding through the wall. Smaug simply summoned his cave, and entered, going back to his portion of Shawn's mind. Rick looked at the wall Bahumut had disappeared through.

"Where's he goin'?"Shawn grinned.

"To take care of a certain magnetic headache of ours." Rick nodded in understanding, then frowned.

"Hey, I wonder why no one heard all that racket we made?" At that moment Bahumut floated through the door.

"The room's soundproofed kid, that's why. Bucket Brains must have made it especially for this type of thing." Shawn looked at him, or through him, one of the two.

"So ya got him?" Bahumut nodded.

"He was just sittin' there reading in his room. I clocked him over the head with the butt of my sword and it was light's out for mister magnet." He paused. "Did you know that if you hit his helmet in _exactly_ the right spot, it makes his head ring like a bell, just like on cartoons. Oh, by the way," Bahumut looked over to Shawn, "I found Thanatos. He's holed up in his room, sleeping." Shawn rubbed his hands together.

"Exxxxcellent," he hissed. Rick cocked an eyebrow.

"Dude, you _seriously_ need to stop watching the 'Simpson's' so much."

-The Institute-

Tabby and Maria looked up from their pacing as they heard the doors to Cerebro open. Xavier wheeled out, looking pleased with himself, aside from being partially sick. Using Cerebro while you had a hangover was _not_ a fun experience. Before he could say anything, the two worried girls pounced on him. "Did you find them?!"

"Where are they?!"

"Are they alright?!" The questions came hard and fast. He held up a hand, while he held his aching forehead with the other. The girls stopped their bombardment and waited for him to speak. He sighed, rubbed his forehead and spoke.

"In answer to your questions, yes I found them. They're located in an abandoned military fallout shelter about forty miles west of Bayville, and I don't know if they're alright or not; all I could only pick up was their brainwaves for a moment, before some sort of shield blocked them off. Probably Bahumut or Smaug," he added, as if speaking to himself.

"So why aren't we rallying the troops and getting them the heck out of there?!" Tabby yelled. Xavier winced and clutched at his head with one hand. The fatherly professor managed to direct a glare at the bottle blond that had even Maria taking a step back.

"Because," he gritted through clenched teeth, "We're still recovering from the party and the fight! No one is fit to fly the Blackbird right now!" At that moment Dante turned the corner, perfectly sober.

"On the contrary professor, I can fly it. Just get a team together and we'll be good to go." With that, he did an abrupt abrupt-face, and was gone. Xavier just stared at the spot Dante had occupied for a few seconds before shaking his head in a resigned manner. He looked at Maria and Tabby, who looked back at him.

"I take it you're going to insist on going?" he asked tiredly. They nodded in unison. He sighed. "Fine." The two nodded in thanks, and raced off to get the rest of the rescue team together.

Ten minutes later, Maria, Tabby, Toad, Wanda, Lance, and Kurt were gathered in the hanger, waiting for Dante. Logan and Beast were still too plastered to help, and Raven and Storm were assisting with the cleanup. Coyote was 'assisting' too, emptying the rest of the bottles he Logan and Dante had brought out.

Lance had insisted on the Brotherhood being allowed to participate in the mission, as they considered both Shawn and Rick friends. The professor, in no mood to argue, had complied. Those not chosen for the rescue were assisting in the cleanup outside. Maria and Tabby were pacing nervously, waiting for Dante to show up in order for them to get going. The X-men were in full battle gear, while the brotherhood members had just discarded any unnecessary articles of clothing. "Where **_IS_** he!?" Maria growled for the twentieth time. Dante's smooth voice cut through the tension in the air like a whip.

"Patience is a virtue you know," he said calmly as he walked up. He was decked out and battle ready, with his guns, sword and gauntlets all in place. He looked at the Blackbird for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. "Well," he said, "let's get this bird off the ground and get our boys back." As he said this, he was nearly run over by Maria and Tabitha in their haste to get onboard. Only quick reflexes and a fast dive kept him from getting trampled. He looked at the rest of the team and smirked slightly. "Well they're anxious to get going," he smirked.

-Back in Magneto's lair-

Rick was hiding in the room he and Shawn had been brought to in Magneto's base, peering out around the doorframe every so often. Shawn had disappeared to take care of Thanatos, and Bahumut was floating in mid-air, practicing with his sword. Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching from two different directions. The sounds coming from the direction Shawn had disappeared to sounded as if someone was dragging something. The footsteps from the other direction on the other hand, were light and measured. Rick chanced one more look out the door, and saw the fringe of Gambit's trenchcoat preceding the thief around the corner. Rick ducked back behind the door, closed it quickly and quietly, and motioned for Bahumut to be silent. He stopped dead however, when he heard Shawn talking cheerfully in the hall to the enemy.

"Hey Gambit, how's it goin'?" Shawn asked in a voice that sounded as if he were supremely pleased with himself.

"Uhhh…pretty good ah guess. Ummm…why exacly are you draggin' an unconscious Thanatos through the hall, tied up with electrical wire?"

"Because I couldn't find any duct tape." There was a silence.

"Oh." After a moment, Gambit spoke again. "So where's your friend…Rick?" Rick tensed, then jumped suddenly as he felt a chill spread through his shoulder. He 'yiped' and spun around to find Bahumut floating a little ways off, his hands in the air.

"Sorry kid, cold hands." Rick opened his mouth to reply when the door opened to reveal Shawn, with the end of a piece of electrical wire held in one hand, and leading back over his shoulder, and Gambit. In Shawn's other hand he held a coil of wire. Neither one looked as if they had any intention of fighting the other. In Shawn's other hand he held a coil of wire.

"Shawn," Rick said in a warning tone, "Explain." Shawn shrugged sheepishly.

"It's a _looong_ story man. Before we go into it, how bout you and me redecorate the place with a few new hanging decorations?" He tossed Rick the coil of wire. Rick looked over Mastermind and Sabretooth, and grinned evilly. He stopped suddenly and looked worriedly at Gambit.

"Okay, so we know that you're cool," he said, addressing Gambit, "But what about the rest of the Acolytes?" Shawn grinned.

"Already taken care of man."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Colossus is cool, and thanks to me Pyro should be out of our hair for a while." Rick cocked an eyebrow.

"You didn't kill him did you?" Shawn grinned.

"Nope, I just gave him Amara's e-mail address, ya know, the one Kitty helped her set up?" Rick nodded, returning his friend's grin.

"Still meddling in the love lives of your friends I see," Bahumut remarked. Shawn shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, let's hang these hams up to cure for a while, shall we?"

Ten minutes later, Shawn, Piotor, Remy, Rick and St. John were gathered in what served as the Acolyte's rec room, watching a "COPS" marathon as they talked. Thanatos, Mastermind and Sabretooth, after a little help from Colossus, were hanging from the ceiling like a couple of hams in a butcher shop. Mastermind was still in shock.

Bahumut had agreed to keep an eye on Magneto, failing to mention that the leader of the Acolyte's had a forty-inch big screen TV in his quarters, and a large library of tapes that he intended to ransack. "So," Rick said, as a commercial came on, "You guys and Lance get together every other Thursday and play poker?" Rick pointed to St. John, who was off in a corner, writing feverishly on a piece of paper, stopping now and then to stare into space and sigh dreamily. "What about him?" Gambit shook his head.

"To unstable, he might have blabbed to Magneto or Sabretooth." Colossus nodded in agreement.

"Da. He is good fighter, but too…" He looked at Gambit. "Vhat is vord I am looking for?"

"Insane?" Rick suggested helpfully. Over in his corner Pyro continued to mutter to himself, stuff like 'you ignited a burning flame, one I dare not give a name,' oblivious to the discussion of his mental health. The Russian nodded.

"Da, thank you. He is too insane." Suddenly, the guys heard a groaning coming from their new ceiling ornaments. Both Thanatos and Sabretooth were stirring, groaning loudly. However, neither one had opened their eyes yet. Shawn looked over to Rick, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Hey Rick, you didn't get to fight these guys earlier, didja?" Rick shook his head.

"Between you, Bahumut and Smaug, al the fun was over by the time I got out and about," he grinned wryly. (AN: Have any of you ever noticed that my characters seem to grin an awful lot?) Shawn smirked and gestured towards the two.

"Would you do the honors of keeping them asleep?" Rick nodded, got up, and stood so that he was facing the two. He flexed his arms, and Shawn and the others watched, as his biceps seemed to grow a bit larger. Sabretooth and Thanatos cracked open their eyes, just in time to see Rick let fly with two sonic pulses, which nailed the two flunkies right in the kissers. Shawn high-fived him as he sat down again. "Nice shootin' Tex." Rick shrugged modestly.

Outside the bunker, the Blackbird came in for a rather shaky landing. The joint Brotherhood/X-men team all disembarked, groaning and clutching at their stomachs. Lance, definitely green in the face, made a sprint for a nearby stand of trees. He nearly made it too. Tabby cringed from the sight, and sounds he was making, and glared at Dante. "I thought you said you knew how to fly that thing?!" she snapped. Dante stared back impassively.

"I did. I merely failed to state how _well_ I could fly it." Everyone stared at him, jaws nearly touching the ground, as he brushed past the bottle blond. "Now are we going to get Rick and Shawn, or are you all going to stand around doing your best goldfish impressions?" He turned to Kurt. "I don't think you would be able to get all of us in there before they noticed, would you?" Kurt nodded. Dante looked over at Wanda. "If you would, Ms. Maximoff?" Wanda stepped forward, and began to form a hexbolt between her hands.

"Just remember, Magneto is _mine_! Now stand back." She cut loose the hexbolt, which blew away a large portion of the wall. Maria and Tabby raced forward, ignoring the other's cries to stay together. Boom Boom looked at Wildcat as they ran, watching the feral sniff the air. She stopped suddenly, and turned to face a hallway.

"I've got their scent. There isn't a smell of blood, so I don't think they've been harmed." Boom Boom nodded, following the girl cautiously as they made their way down the hall. Wildcat stopped suddenly, and you could almost see her ears pricking forward. She frowned, and unsheathed her claws. Tabby, taking her cue from her companion, created some 'five second' cherry bombs, which would explode five seconds after they left her hand, just in case. After a few more yards, she heard what Maria had.

It sounded like a bunch of boys singing "Bad Boys". Maria made her way to the door, and motioned for Tabby to position herself on the other side of it. She held up three fingers, and silently counted down. As she reached one, she and Tabby rushed the door, knocking it off its hinges. They blinked as they registered the sight that met their eyes. Rick, Gambit, Shawn, Colossus and Pyro were all in the room, and the first three were singing. Sabretooth, Thanatos and Mastermind were all hanging from the ceiling by wires, with the first two looking decidedly worse for wear Shawn looked up as the door burst open, and then shrugged. "Well guys, it looks like our ride's here. It's been a real blast, but we gotta be going." At that both Tabby and Maria saw red. They had been worried _sick_ about these two, and in the end they had ended up having a good ole time with the Acolytes. Tabby and Maria shared a long dangerous look with each other, then began to advance on their respective interests.

Shawn and Rick, who had caught the look, looked at each other. "Shall we run for our lives?" Rick asked. Shawn nodded.

"Yes, lets." The two took off like bats outta hell, with the irked females directly behind them. A few moments later, the entire rescue team made their appearance. Kurt scratched his head in confusion.

"I thought zat ve vere supposed to rescue zem from _zem_!" he said, pointing at the Acolytes. Bahumut appeared in the doorway suddenly, holding a knocked out Wanda over a shoulder. His other arm was wrapped around a bunch of videotapes. Toad immediately moved to take Wanda, who Bahumut handed off without a word. Everyone realized that she had gone after Magneto and Bahumut had probably saved the master of magnetism's' life.

"It's a long story kid, but don't worry, I can fill you in on what the security cameras missed." He tossed a few of the tapes over to Kurt, who deftly caught them, and tossed the rest of them to Dante. At the half demon's quizzical look, he merely smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. Dante caught on and discretely shoved them into his trenchcoat. "Now c'mon and help me get these kids on the plane."

Twenty minutes later, the entire team, with the addition of Shawn and Rick, were en route back to the Institute. The two were a little roughed up, a little singed and a few cuts in their clothes, but nothing major. The girls were now sitting with their faces turned away from the boys, noses in the air and acting mortally offended. Kurt, who was sitting in the cockpit with Dante, turned to the half demon and asked a question that, if this had been an anime, would have had him producing a sweat drop a mile wide. "So, vhat vere zose videos zat Bahumut gave you?"

---To Be Continued---

Well there's the conclusion to _that_ little melodrama. Next time, Shawn and Rick attempt to make amends to their girls. Also, Slash is introduced to Calisto, and is offered a place with the Morlocks. How will she react when informed of the reason that Sebastion and Shippo have made their way into the sewers in the first place. Find out next time, but until then, any suggestions are welcome(and much needed concerning who the guys make it up to the girls) and Read & Review!


	28. Talks

Take the Long Way Home

Hey folks, sorry about the long, _long_ wait. My muses haven't been very helpful lately. #Gestures to the open door of the muse room, where Draco and Coyote are chained to desks, writing furiously# But they're cooperating much better, now that Blackwargreymon and Vegeta are in charge of production. #The two muses in question are standing over the other two, energy blasts at the ready#

AN: Since, for some unknown reason 's, Quickedit program doesn't recognize asterisks, I will be using #'s instead to denote actions.

L1701E-the big team-up will begin the chapter after next man. I hope you can wait until then. Yeah, I got the name for Kiva, just couldn't remember Jamie's name. Thanks for the info.

Fluffy's numba 1 gal-You'll find out what happened to her in a while. But first I want to get some other stuff outta the way.

Moezy chan-Thanks. That's great news, but I still can't believe that you're giving up writing pokemon fanfiction! You're really good at it!

Azuredragoness-Oh yeah? Well you forgot one minor detail. HIM! #Points at Draco, who merely grins viciously and wiggles his claws in a small wave# And what if they switched partners during the battle? BWGmon could easily defeat Nayru, Draco could take Kiwi-mahn (He's named after a freakin fruit, how tough could he be?), Coyote would **_eat_** the dancing turkeys and Vegeta would atomize, and then ionize, the FBBWAT (what does that stand for anyway?) So NYAH! Sticks out tongue

Soulstress- Thank you, thank you very much. # Takes a bow #

Raliena- A **_FEW_** problems?!!

Animeluvr1-sorry, no evil Rick here.

Andivari-interesting doesn't even come close man. I got the ideas that you gave to Animeluvr to pass along, gracias. Trust me, you do **_not_** want to know what's in there! Have read your HP fics, very nice work there. Can't wait for you to update your other fics too.

SickmindedSucker- Thanks, you really helped me out there! It's okay about not reviewing lately, stuff happens, and we just have to deal. Read the latest installment of "Not Just a Sleepover", and it was _great_.

Alleycat588- Thanks for forgiving me. No more mess-ups; promise!

Legendary Warrior-Heh-heh; yeah, the tapes should make an interesting little running gag. I plan to humiliate Kelly with one of them, so you can look forward to that as well.

Descendant- I'm glad that you like this, I'm a big fan of your work.

Disclaimer- Sanity? What's that?

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Chapter 28- Talks in the Sewers

The X-jet came to a shaky landing in the hanger beneath the Institute, where Jean and Scott stood waiting. The Professor and Beast were still hung over, and Coyote was still recovering from the beating his sister had given him when she had found him drinking so soon after the battle. Storm and Logan, who was finally sober again, were just finishing cleaning up with the help of the kids that had stayed behind. So that left the two 'responsible' teens to greet the rescuers. As soon as the door opened, a brown haired blur raced past the two, heading for a bathroom. Lance actually made it this time too. A rather shaky looking Toad and Nightcrawler, who were supporting each other as they stumbled out of the plane, followed him. "Ohhhhh, mien stomach!" Kurt groaned.

"This is worse than the time I tried to eat that tarantula, and that was _not_ fun yo," Todd moaned. The two continued down the ramp, lurching side to side in a strange tandem sort of dance. Tabby and Maria followed the two, still looking offended.

"What happened, where are Shawn and Rick?" Jean asked. Maria just growled, pushing past Scott with a murderous look on her face and headed for the DR, while Tabby snorted in disgust, passing by the psychic without a word. Jean was tempted to use her powers to find out what had happened, but thought better of it. The professor was still in a fairly vindictive mood from his hangover, and would probably punish her for that sort of thing.

Rick and Shawn appeared next, Shawn looking a little put out, and Rick had a little less spring in his step. Over the flight, they both had realized how badly they had offended the girls with their reactions to the rescue, but still couldn't see why they were **_this_** angry. They were also a little disappointed that the girls hadn't had more faith in their abilities. Shawn looked at Rick. "So how do you think we should make it up to them?" he asked as they walked right by Scott and Jean, ignoring the two completely.

Rick shrugged. "I haven't got a freakin' clue." The two boys had been discussing different ways to make the whole thing up to their girls, but hadn't been able to think of anything that might work. Shawn had suggested jewelry, but Bahumut, who claimed "I ain't got nothing better to do" and was attempting to help the two, had shot it down, saying it would have been to much like a bribe, as well as pointing out that Maria didn't _wear_ jewelry. Rick had suggested chocolate and flowers, but Shawn had pointed out that they didn't know if either of the girls even _liked_ those things or not. In the end, they decided that the only thing to do was… ask their crush's roommates' advice. As they left the hanger to seek out said females, Dante walked out of the plane; supporting a very green looking Amara, and leading a still peeved Wanda. He looked over at Amara and smiled a little.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." Amara responded by getting noisily sick all over the half demon. "**_AWWWW_** **_MAN_**! THIS WAS MY FAVORITE TRENCHCOAT!" Wanda gave a small smile, before brushing past the two X-men, as if they weren't even there. Jean sighed and reached out with her TK, grabbing a bucket and mop from a storage closet close-by. She grabbed hold of the mop and floated the bucket over to Scott. Rick, who had finally remembered that Amara was his crush's roomie, walked back into the hanger. He caught a glimpse of what was happening, did an abrupt about-face, and briskly headed back the other way. 'I'll talk to her after she's feeling better,' he thought.

In the DR, Maria had set up a level-seven battle simulation, and was currently beating Logan's high scores into the dust. As she fought, she thought about what had happened. Deep inside she _knew_ she was overreacting, but she didn't really care at this point in time. 'It's just…' Just that he completely ignored the fact that you were worried about him? the little voice that was her subconscious probed. I thought you were gone,' Maria growled mentally, slicing a robot in half with a particularly vicious thrust of her claws. _Nope_! the voice chirped back, sounding surprisingly like Kitty. Maria groaned mentally, without slowing her furious pace.

'What do you want?' she growled mentally. For you and Shawn to get back together the inner voice chirped. 'No. Fucking. Way,' the girl snapped mentally. The inner voice sighed. All right, I'll leave you alone. For now, it added before fading away. 'Perfect,' Maria groaned, 'Now all I need is Sabretooth and Pietro running around in my head and I'll be just as bad off as Rogue is!' She thought of the constant torment that Rogue had to go through because of her powers, and the fact that she was constantly reminded of the fact that she couldn't have skin-to-skin contact with _anyone_ for the rest of her life. 'Maybe I don't have it as bad as I'd like to believe,' she thought, before turning off the simulation and heading to the girls wing for a shower and a good book.

Up in the mansion, Shawn was stalking around, on the lookout for either Kitty or Rogue. He heard some muffled noises, coming from the room they shared with Maria, and decided to investigate. He cracked open the door, and took a peek inside. Unfortunately, he was noticed. Kitty gave a little shriek and turned a bright crimson, while a currently shirtless Lance (AN: BACK FANGIRLS, BACK I SAY!) picked up the closest thing to him, and chucked it at his friends head, which turned out to be his own shirt. Shawn picked the cloth off of his face, and smirked. "I'd advise you two to keep it down, I saw Logan headed this way, and you know how he is. And with the pheromones you two are putting out, I'd say he'll find you in ohhhh…about a second." As he said this, there was a -_Snikt_- from behind him. He turned slowly, to find Logan standing behind him, claws bared and murder in his eyes.

"Rockhead," he said in a surprisingly neutral voice, " you have a quarter of a second to get your hand offa the Half-Pint's ass, and make your peace with God." Kitty immediately turned intangible, along with Lance, and the two lovebirds began to rapidly drop through the bed, and then the floor. Logan merely watched them go, and, once they were out of sight, re-sheathed his claws, chuckling lightly. "That never gets old," he laughed, walking out the door. Shawn watched the old feral go, mouth open in shock.

"Did he just…? And then…?" he threw up his hands, and walked down the hall. "It's official, I'm living in a nuthouse." A southern drawl coming from the library as he passed it had him stopping in his tracks.

"Ahnd (And) it took yah this long to figuah (Figure) it out?" Shawn stopped in mid-step, and backtracked. He peered into the room to find Rogue sitting comfortably on one of the leather couches, a book in her hands. Bahumut appeared in the air next to the book's cover, or rather his head did.

"Ah Poe. Great writer, but he couldn't hold his booze worth crap, if memory serves." Both Rogue and Shawn were startled by this little announcement. Not so much by the way he had appeared, but by the fact that he could so casually talk about a man who had been dead for more than a hundred years. Everyone in the Institute had gotten used to the spirit popping up in the weirdest ways, but they tended to forget that he was much older than he acted, several times older than even Logan.

"Anyway…" Shawn said, cutting off the conversation, "I need your help Rogue." Rogue smirked and set her book down.

"How much of a favor are we talking here?"

"I'll do your jail-time for you." Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Well then, if you put it that way, whadda ya need?" Shawn took a deep breath.

"I need you to help me figure out how to get back into Maria's good graces." Rogue looked a little perplexed by the request.

"Ah thought that you two were lahke(like) this," she said, crossing two of her fingers over each other. Bahumut, in a miniaturized form, appeared on the arm of the couch, laughing to himself.

"Not anymore girl, he fked up _big _time." Shawn tried to swat the miniature dragon-man, but his hand just passed though him. He leaned back, and sunk into his chair a little.

"Razafrazzing, no good…" he muttered to himself. Rogue smirked at their antics, then leaned forward a little bit.

"Why don't you tell me what happened tah get you inta such hot water, ahnd Ah'll see what Ah can do." Shawn nodded, and began his story from the point he had woken upm, with Bahumut providing commentary and corrections. At one point oin time, they even had to consult Smaug on what had happened, since both of their versions of what had happened seemed to be just a bit off. During the entire time, Rogue merely nodded and made small noises to tell them to go on. At the end of the narration, Shawn stopped and looked at her hopefully. "Wahl(well), there's really only one thing Ah can say," Rogue began slowly. Shawn nodded eagerly. "Bahumut's right, you fcked up big time," she finished, with a small smirk Shawn just looked at her for the longest time with a sullen expression.

"That," he finally said, "Was _NOT_ funny."

Up on the second floor of the mansion, Rick had finally tracked down Amara, who was now feeling much better. He had explained his problem, and was now waiting patiently for some kind of a solution from the Roma Novan princess. "Well…" she said, after thinking for a few minutes, "There's only one thing I can think of that would make me forgive you in this kind of situation." Rick nodded so hard and fast it looked like his head was about to come flying off.

"Yeah? What is it?" Amara smiled.

"Your best bet is to take her on a shopping spree." Rick looked at her for a moment, and then, seeing that she was dead serious, got up and made his way out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Amara asked. Rick tossed his reply over his shoulder.

"To collect on some favors I did for a certain roommate of mine. I'm gonna need some spending money."

-The Morlock Tunnels-

Calisto stood over the two captives, regarding them silently. Shippo merely looked her in the eye, cool as a cucumber. Sebastion had begun to get a little antsy, and was wiggling his arms, and shifting around, trying to get more comfortable. Evan leaned against the wall behind Calisto, a single spike held in his right hand. Caliban had apparently slipped away from the two, and was nowhere to be found. "Who are you?" Calisto asked after a prolonged silence.

"Shippo," the fox said, "And the boy is my charge, his name is Sebastion."

"Please, call me Slash," the boy interjected. "Do you think you could let us go now? Please? I'm starting to get a cramp in my neck." Thorn looked inquiringly at Calisto, but the older woman ignored his request, still concentrating on Shippo.

"Why were you looking for the Morlocks? What was your intent?" Shippo sighed, and then stood up, brushing away the small strands of roots that clung to him. Calisto stepped back a little as the fox towered over her, and Evan moved to intercept. He stopped though, when the seeming threat merely leaned up against the wall of the sewer. He looked over at Slash for a moment and nodded to himself. There was a flash, and then Slash stood up as well, brushing cinders from his clothes. Shippo smiled at the boy as he cracked his neck, then looked blandly at Calisto.

"We were looking for the Morlocks with the intent to challenge your best fighter to one-on-one combat with Sebastion." Everyone in the tunnel, sans Slash, looked at him like he was nuts. Even a few of the rats were edging away from him.

"Why?" Exo asked.

"To see if his training is truly paying off. Sebastion is being trained in the art of swordplay, and we needed to find someone with fighting capabilities, and experience, that would pose a challenge. His mutation gives him enhanced reflexes and slightly enhanced strength, so challenging a normal human is out of the question." Evan looked at the fox through narrowed eyes at that.

"Why not fight him yourself?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Not to sound full of myself, but I'm just too good." Evan's eyes narrowed a bit more at that. "I'm quite a bit older than I look, and I've learned more tricks and techniques than any human or mutant really has a right to know." Cappy, who had been silent up until now, spoke up.

"What do you mean, any 'human or mutant'? I would assume from your appearance that you are a mutant yourself." Shippo shook his head sadly.

"Not a mutant, no. But in my time creatures such as myself were feared and hated with more of a passion than anything since. Take Hitler, the KKK and the White League; combine them together, and you'd have a fraction of the hate that members of my race received. Although," he added as an afterthought, "it wasn't entirely unjustified." Everyone was backing away from the fox, with the exception of Slash. Evan had begun to move in-between the two groups, ready to intercept an attack, while Exo had changed into a strange, black Triceratops-like robot, with several armaments on it's back (A Darkhorn, for those of you not versed in Zoids). Thorn looked at the two, slightly fearful.

"If you're not mutants, then wh-what are you?" she asked nervously. Shippo grinned slightly, showing off a single fang.

"I'm a demon of course, a Time Fox to be precise." The reactions were varied, but all of them were enjoyable. Calisto took two more steps back, and nearly knocked into Evan, who managed to maneuver around her somehow, both of them looking a bit shellshocked. Cappy had adopted a thoughtful look, but had also taken a step back. Thorn was looking around, muttering to herself about Candid Camera © and Punk'd © (Great show, Can't _believe_ they stopped shooting it!). Exo reaction however, was the funniest of all. He had just stood there for a moment, before fainting… while still in his robot form! Thorn looked from Shippo to Slash in shock.

"Y-you're both demons?" she quavered. Slash shook his head, while Cappy attempted to revive Exo in the background. Calisto and Spyke were still in a shock coma, and weren't really good for anything but staring blankly right now.

"Not quite. I'm _descended_ from a hanyou, a half demon. Apparently there were a few demonic genes floating around in my family's bloodline. Shippo-sensei thinks that my X-gene somehow affected the dormant demon genes, basically reactivating them and giving me the abilities and appearance of a hanyou, alongside my actual mutant power." Calisto, shaking off her shock somewhat, looked at him.

"And what is your power exactly?" Slash looked at her for a moment.

"It's kind of hard to explain, so I'd better just demonstrate." With that, he drew his sword from its sheath. His arm tingled as the familiar energy of the steel cleaving fang reached out to him, in a sort of question. He gently told the sword that he didn't need to access its powers, through a sort of energy communication. He held the wooden sword up straight in front of him, and concentrated. Everyone in the tunnel watched, with the exception of Shippo, who merely buffed his claws against his shirt, before examining them nonchalantly. A golden sort of light began to envelop the wooden blade, starting from where Sebastion grasped its hilt, and working upwards. After a few seconds, the entire sword was glowing faintly. A moment later and the glow faded away, revealing sharp metal where dull wood had once been. Slash swung the sword in an arc, listening to it whistle through the air, eyes fixed on the blade. He almost seemed to have forgotten about his little audience, until Shippo made a sort of coughing noise to get his attention. Slash shook his head, then looked up, bringing the sword to rest. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment

"Er…sorry. My friends back home used to tell me that I zone out sometimes when I have my sword out." He looked over at Shippo. "Kinda the way Hack zones out around a computer, and Crush zones out when there's a good song on the radio, huh?" Unnoticed by everyone else, Spyke, who had been keeping a tight grip on his javelin-like spike, relaxed his grip a slightly when he heard the name Hack.

'After all,' he thought to himself, 'how many people named Hack could there be in the world?'

"That's it?" Calisto asked, "You can just change your sword from wood to metal and back again?" Slash shook his head in the negative.

"No, I just used this as an example. I can change any substance into any other substance."

"Transmutation," Cappy said. Slash nodded. Calisto processed all the information she had received throughout this long conversation, and came to a decision.

"I'll think about your request. Until then, you're welcome to stay with us, and share what little we have. You're not likely to get a warm reception up there anyway," she added, nodding in the direction of the tunnel roof. Shippo nodded, before making a low sort of bow.

"Lead the way, O' Gracious one," he smiled. Calisto was taken aback for a moment, before growling, and stomping off down the tunnel. The rest of the group had to jog for a few moments to catch up to her, with Spyke bringing up the rear. Shippo looked at Cappy as they went, and smirked. "Was it something I said?" he asked in an innocent voice. Thorn and Slash had hung back a bit, so that they were walking a few feet in front of Spyke, but also a few feet behind Exo and the older mutants (and Shippo). They were talking quietly, comparing their life experiences, people they had met, places they had been. Shippo glanced back through the corner of his eye and chuckled quietly to himself. Perhaps his young charge would find more than a test of his martial skills down in these dank sewers.

-An Undisclosed Location-

Jon Lutz, the mutant hacker known as Hack, staggered into his Digital HQ, a bloody pulp. He was supported on one side by Biker, who was looking equally battered, with a crack through the entire left side of his mask and black burns marking up his white fur jacket collar. On his other side was Decoy, who was whimpering whenever he put his weight on his left front leg, and had his tail between his legs. Scratch followed after them, his orange battle armor crumbling, and one of his saber fangs broken off halfway down.

Biker and Decoy led Hack over to a large overstuffed armchair, and sat him down gently. Their task complete, they all collapsed in various chairs, or on thick rugs. As soon as they were down, their various places of rest began to glow, and the padding began to dissolve. After a few minutes, Biker and Hack were left sitting on the frames for armchairs, while Decoy and Scratch were now lying on nothing more than rags. Biker got up, and stretched, the damage done to him fully healed.

"Ugh, thank god for reconstruction programs," he grunted. Hack, who had healed as well, though not as fully as his digital friends, nodded; his face a study in sorrow. He looked at two orbs that he had had clenched in his fist when they had arrived. They were both green, and were the size of a normal program orb, but they were fizzing, and they would seem at times as if about to collapse in on themselves.

Jon got up, and headed towards a huge console, which had several small slots in them, each large enough for a single orb. He placed the orbs into two separate slots, and sat down at the monitor. Silently, he began to type. Biker came over behind him, and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry we couldn't get her out Boss," he said quietly. Jon shook his head.

"It's not your fault Biker. We underestimated Frost's abilities and forces, and over estimated our own. Even with the addition of Overdrive and Sidewinder, we still weren't a match for them. I'm going to think for a while, and see if I can come up with a way to tip the odds in our favor. But know this," he said in a dangerous voice, "I **_swear_** that I'll get Sharon out from that mad woman's control, or die trying!"

---To Be Continued---

Whoah! There's a lot of stuff going on here! Will Shawn ever find a way to get Maria to forgive him? Will Rick survive his trip to the mall with Tabby? Will Logan kill Lance? Will Slash fight against the Morlocks and win? And what's up with Hack? Find out the answers to some of these questions, next time. But until then, Read & Review!


	29. Mall Makeups

Take the Long Way Home

Sorry for the wait folks; let's just say that writer's block is hell and get on with it.

Fireinu- Glad to have another fan bud.

L1701E- Thanks for the permission to use Sonic Blue. And sorry about the whole mix-up about him not being a mutant. And thanks for the correction earlier about the Darkhorn too.

Agent-G- Sorry I took so long to update. No, it's not the canon Thornn, just an OC from a friend of mine. And I really love your work, especially your two spiderman/x-men crossovers.

Fluffy's numba 1 gal- Not really, I just thought that he'd make a good addition to my story, plus it helped explain Sebastian's demon heritage.

Alleycat588- Well, maybe not _dead_ broke, but pretty darn close. And my muses would put up a pretty good defense, and a least give me some time to get away.

Moezy-Chan- Yeah, I liked that part a lot myself.

Dan-Shawn's not as much of a Gary-Stu as you may think, even he gets his ass kicked from time to time.

AzureDragoness-Yeah, I was a big fan of Zoids: New Century Zero. The Liger Zero, Raynos, and Shadowfox all tied for my most favorite in the series. Furry blue burrito with a tail? I thnk you may want to clean your fridge out more often. And I agree, Kiwi birds are pretty cool, but Cassowary's (sp?) are a lot meaner. Cookies for updates? Hmmm, I think that that's a fair trade. Make them chocolate chip and you've got yourself a deal!

SickMindedSummer- You're right, that shouldn't happen to a trenchcoat, especially not one attached to a guy that cool. Well, I thought about making her conscience sound like Rogue, but I figured one that sounded like Kitty would drive the point home better. Of course Logan would ruin a good sex moment; it's how he keeps himself amused in a house full of hormone driven teens. Remy would probably attempt to blow Logan up or something, which in turn would just make Logan mad. Okay, if Logan and Maria couldn't get their claws out of Frost's ass, don't you think that that would be more of a punishment for the two ferals, rather than the telepath? By the way, Hack's creations aren't robots, they're free thinking, realized computer programs.

Soulstress- Yeah, just like a cat with a wounded mouse, he won't kill him, because then he wouldn't have anything to "play" with. And yes, that is the Sharon being referred to.

Rosethorn3-Yes, yes it does.

Raliena-Yeah, but what am I gonna do, most of them are more powerful than I am, and they're fast enough to get out of my sphere of influence as an author/god, and go to other authors who would use them as their own muses.

Warconq- Yeah, I'm still writing this, it's just that I've just entered my senior year, and stuff is getting a little hectic. Shawn and Maria are back together now, and the get together of the Triad is coming up, in about ten more chapters, maybe less.

Andivari-Sorry about it being late, but stuff just happens. You know how it is man. No Triad get together yet, but Hack makes his fighting debut in about two chapters.

Animeluvr1-BINGO! Yes, I got the fluff guide, and I believe that it has helped immensely in my writing of fluff.

-AAA- Translation

AAA -telepathy

AAA -self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer: Hookt aun Fonix reelie wurkt fur mee!

Chapter 29:Mall Make-ups, and Sewer Scrimmages

Rick woke up, and stretched out. It had been two days since the incident with the girls, and he was finally ready to make his move. He had reminded Shawn of when he had covered his roommate's butt during an incident involving Logan, a toilet seat, and some super-glue. Then he had reminded Shawn how easily the identity of the perpetrator could be leaked to certain Canadian ears. Shawn had muttered something about Mexican banditos and dug out his wallet. He now had the funds to make said move.

He had also managed to convince Tabby to spend the day with him at the mall. It had been easy, once he had said that he was paying. He wandered down to the kitchen to grab a bite, idly scratching his chin before giving a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Hey Rick," Shawn greeted from the table. He and Logan were the only two there, sharing a fresh pot of coffee.

"'Lo," Rick grunted in response. As he went about getting his breakfast, Logan grabbed his shirtsleeve as he passed behind the feral. "What?"

"Remember this Shaggy, try anythin' an I'll know the nanosecond you get back. Comprende compadre?"

Rick nodded as Logan released his sleeve. "Ci." The feral gave a smirk and got up to leave.

"Bueno." And with that, he was gone. After a few moments more, the two boys heard the sound of one of his motorcycles starting up. A few minutes later, the two were eating and drinking in silence, when Maria walked into the room. Shawn perked up, and opened his mouth to say something, but Maria held up her hand, cutting him off. She sauntered over next to him, reached over, picked up the coffeepot, and upturned the nearly full container of boiling hot liquid over his head. She then turned, and sashayed out. Rick looked over at Shawn, who was trying desperately not to scream in pain.

"Think she's still mad?" he asked nonchalantly. Shawn just glared at him. At that moment, the two heard muffled giggling coming from around the corner.

"Jamie, if you have a camcorder in your possession, you're gonna need a lot more than just decoys to keep me from throttling the real you!" Shawn yelled. There was a frightened "Eep!" and then the sounds of a mad scramble. Rick looked sadly at his roommate.

"You do know that he's going to make copies of the tape now, and hand them out to the rest of the Institute, and the 'Hood as well, right?" Shawn glared at him some more. "Shutting up now."

Later

"Tabby, are you coming, or not?" Rick called impatiently from the bottom of the stairs. He'd been waiting at LEAST fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, Shaggy!" she yelled back.

Five minutes later, she was FINNALY ready to go. Grinning gallantly, the Texan escorted her to the garage and, ever chivalrous, opened her door.

The door to _SCOTT'S_ car.

Tabby grinned.

Pretty soon they were out of Bayville, and were on the highway towards the nearest mall. Tabby, getting bored of the silence reached over and flicked on the radio. Absent-mindedly, she surfed through the channels. Suddenly, Rick grabbed her wrist.

"Wait! Go back!"

She adjusted the dial a bit, and a familiar guitar line came wafting to her ears.

"Wonderwall! Oh, man, I haven't heard an Oasis song since, like... '97. Man, I feel old."

Both grinning, they sang along, the words becoming more and more familiar as they went.

"Today is gonna be the day  
That they're gonna throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you gotta do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do about you now  
Backbeat the word was on the street  
That the fire in your heart is out  
I'm sure you've heard it all before  
But you never really had a doubt  
I don't believe that anybody feels  
The way I do about you now  
  
And all the roads we have to walk are winding  
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding  
There are many things that I would   
Like to say to you  
but I don't know how  
  
Because maybe   
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall  
  
Today was gonna be the day  
But they'll never throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you're not to do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do  
About you now  
  
And all the roads that lead you there were winding  
And all the lights that light the way are blinding  
There are many things that I would like to say to you  
I don't know how  
  
I said maybe  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall  
  
I said maybe  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
And after all   
You're my wonderwall  
  
Said maybe  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
You're gonna be the one that saves me  
You're gonna be the one that saves me"

By the time the song had finished, Rick was pulling into a parking space. "After you." He said, and she got out of the car.

A blast of cool, air-conditioned atmosphere hit the duo as soon as they got through the doors. Tabitha breathed in deeply. She could already smell the Auntie Annie's pretzels.

"So, what do you want to do first?" Rick asked, nerves tingeing his voice slightly.

She looked at him like he was crazy.

"We **_SHOP_**."

32 purchases and three five-finger discounts later, poor Rick was ready to plotz.

"Are we done YET?"

"Eh. Let's eat." Tabitha said, already six feet ahead of him.

Rick prayed to the gods.

If any particular passerby had bothered to note what two crazy kids at a table in the food court were doing, they'd think those crazy kids were nuts.

They'd also be right.

Both Rick and Tabitha were hunched over their Slushees, sucking madly from their straws, hands on their necks to stop them from pulling away.

Wincing, Rick pulled away. "I can't do it! Brainfreeze-brainfreeze-brainfreeze..." he whimpered, clutching his head.

He waited a few more seconds as Tabitha sucked up the last of her Slushee, finishing, and winning, their endurance contest.

"Hah! Still the champ!" Tabitha crowed smugly, before wincing. "Ow..."

"So... now what?" asked the western mutant, after the searing buzz in his head had subsided.

"Well, I just got one question for ya, Shaggy... got any quarters?"

Grinning like maniacs, they raced each other to the arcade.

Rick was good at Street Fighter. No, Rick was great at Street Fighter. You might even say he excelled at it.

And yet, he was losing. He was losing very, very badly.

Try as he might to concentrate on the combating pixilated warriors, he couldn't take his mind of the fact that he was so close to Tabby he could hear her breathing, and the way she kept pressing up against him wasn't helping, either.

All in all, it was very distracting.

"K.O!" announced the game, siring yet another loss for poor Rick. "Looks like you lose again, Shaggy!" Tabitha said happily.

"It's a stupid game anyway." He muttered. "Let's go play Pac-Man."

"They don't HAVE Pac-Man here."

"What do you call that?" Rick asked, pointing to an older console that had a familiar yellow, dot chomping, cheese-wedge lookalike racing around the screen.

"That is a MISS Pac-Man."

"Same difference."

"Nuh-UH! She's MISS, not Missus! She doesn't need some stupid man in her life! She's her own woman!"

"...You're making way to big a deal out of this."

After a while, the two had taken to strolling around the mall, going into any stores that caught their eye. Rick actually fell asleep on one of the vibrating chairs in the Brookstone.

Tabitha shivered as they passed under another air conditioning vent. Her Slushee was catching up to her, and the fact that she was wearing nothing but a T-shirt didn't help the situation. (AN: To all those perverts out there, **_I know what it sound like, but it isn't like that!_**)

"You cold?" asked Rick, raising his pierced eyebrow.

"Maybe a little."

Rick effortlessly shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her. She quickly put it on.

'It smells like him,' she thought.

Rick stopped as they came up to the fountain, the bottom glittering from thousands of tossed-in pennies.

"Close you eyes." The Texan whispered in Tabby's ear. A small shiver ran up her spine, and she did as he asked. She felt something small, smooth and cool being slipped into her hand. A penny.

"Make a wish." He murmured. Suddenly, she knew exactly what she wanted, more than anything in the world. Smiling, she tossed the coin in.

"What did you wish for?" he asked as she opened her eyes.

"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't come true."

"Hey, c'mon, that's not fair! Tell me!"

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please?"

"Shut up."

-Back at the Institute-

Most of the occupants of the Institute were watching Shawn do the either the bravest, or stupidest thing they had ever heard of anyone doing. He was going to intrude on one of Maria's Danger Room sessions. Bobby had set up a betting pool on how long it would take for Maria to finish thrashing him. Logan had put in at two hours for twenty bucks, while Kitty and Rogue had pooled their money and bet fifty bucks that neither one of them would come out of the room with a relationship related scratch. The odds on this were ten-to-one, house's favor.

Shawn stood outside the door to the small chamber that led into the DR, mentally prepping. 'Okay Shawn, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this.' Just go in already kid, Bahumut grumbled. 'Okay, I'm going in now,' he thought. He entered the room, and found that Maria was just exiting from the main DR. "Um, hey," Shawn gulped, "I need to talk to you for a minute, if that's alright with you." Maria was silent for a moment, debating in her head.

Go ahead, what's talking for a moment going top hurt, her newfound emotional side urged. He might end up hurting you, like everything else you've encountered until now, just walk away, the cynical side, honed by years of living under HYDRA's influence warned. In the end, she listened to her heart instead of her head. "I'm listening," she nodded, sitting down on one of the benches that lined the wall.

"Well," Shawn began, "I know that you were worried about me when I pulled that stunt that ended up getting me captured. But it just isn't in me to throw in the towel." Maria nodded, she had seen the surveillance tapes.

"Go on."

"And about the whole rescue thing, I can't really apologize for that. I actually play cards with two of the Acolytes and Lance every other Thursday (1). That's why there wasn't a real fight to get free. But I should have tried to at least contact you and tell you that I was okay. And for that..." Shawn braced himself. "For that I...GULP...I at least deserve a punch in the jaw for the grief you went through, so just go ahead and lay one on me." That said, Shawn closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. He waited for a moment, but the expected mind numbing pain of her fist making a through examination of his molars never came. After a moment, he cracked an eye open, and looked at Maria. She had a small smile on her lips as she shook her head slowly.

"I think that you've suffered enough." Then she leaned closer, and whispered in his ear. "But if you ever do anything like that again, I'll take you up on the offer." With that she turned and headed for the door. Halfway there though, she stopped and turned back to him, offering her hand with a smile. He took it with a smile of his own.

-Hack's DHQ (Digital HQ)-

Jon was typing tirelessly on the huge console that made up the center point of his base, scrutinizing the data flow across screen. Occasionally he would switch to a different program that displayed different graphs, and input a few figures, look at how this affected the graph lines, and then switched back to the original coding program. Scratch and Decoy were sleeping on rugs behind him, with a large shadowed shape behind them. A ringing sound from the console had him stopping in his endeavor for a moment. He struck a sequence of keys, and a video feed window opened on-screen, displaying Biker's face. "What have you got for me Biker?"

"Sorry boss, no definite activity yet. From what me an' Sidewinder have been able to piece together though, it looks like they'll be leaving the academy soon to pull off some heists or somethin'. How's it comin' on your end?" Hack shook his head tiredly.

"I'm having trouble stabilizing the quantum matrix. But other than that it's just about ready to go. It'll be ready to go by the time they leave the academy." Over the video link, Biker smirked.

"They won't know what hit 'em, eh boss?" Hack copied his friend's smirk.

"Let's just say that Frost is going to regret trying to keep my girlfriend away from me."

(1) They changed it from every Thursday so they wouldn't get caught by their respective groups.

---To Be Continued---

Well, Rick and Shawn have made nice with their girls and Hack is making preparations to take his girlfriend back from Emma Frost. Next chapter, Kid Razor makes an explosive entrance onto the mansion, and makes a surprising request. What does the "Jukebox Hero" want with the X-Men? And why did they have to choose that day to accidentally sample some of Kitty's cooking?


	30. To Those About to Rock, We Salute You

Take the Long Way Home

Hey folks. WHOO HOO THE 300 REVIEW MARK AT LAST! #Does a happy dance# But on a more somber note, I have tragic news for those of you who love the comedic part of this story, or anyone with an appreciation of comedy. For those of you who haven't heard, Rodney Dangerfield, Mr. "I Get No Respect" himself, has passed away. He was a major comedic inspiration for me. I am now officially dedicating the entirety of this story's comedy portions to him. Rest in Peace Rodney.

Disclaimer- I get no respect, no respect at all!

Animeluvr1-sorry, but the whole thing was almost perfect as it was. I did add a little to the beginning, and did a little grammatical correction to it. So there! Now where's my biscuit?

moezy-chan -here's the update!

L1701E- well, I got the new design for Razor's costume, and I got the quips as well. I wasn't able to think of a use for some of them though.

Fireinu-yeah, Beast is gonna be putting the stomach pump through its paces. The fluff guide is a little gift that was compiled by Animeluvr1 and Andivari. If you want, I can send you a copy.

Warconq- I'm gonna keep on trucking with this story, and hope that I can finish it before interest in Evo runs out. Senior-itis? Sounds lethal.

Raliena- Thanks, I aims to please.

Agent-G- Sorry bout not reviewing to much, I just don't seem to have the time to write a good review of your work. You know, I'm probably rushing Maria's acclimation to the 'real' world. I'll try and adjust how she's acclimating. About Hack… well I guess you'll just see later.

AzureDragoness-riggghhhhttt. I think I may be scarred for life now. Double chocolate chip? #Eyes light up# You got yourself a deal! Well, maybe your fbbwat is related to something from the Teen Titan's fridge.

Mightierdandasword- Ah, but I had Hack include a hidden protocol in his programming that allows me to override earlier programming. I like the idea, but that leaves the whole "how did Protoman learn the Zanzoken?" thing. And could you please reconsider your policy about having to have five reviews for each chapter. You have at least one loyal reader, even though I can't review as often as I wish I could.

X00001- well, here the update be.

SickmindedSucker-you're right, that _would_ drive Logan crazy eventually. Maybe that's why he takes so many trips? Well, just think, how much would **_you_** be willing to pay to keep that kind of info out of Logan's claws? Thank Animeluvr for the Rick/Tabby sweetness, I just posted that part. (And added the whole pervert warning thing) Yeah, Bobby and his get rich quick schemes. And yes, Rogue and Kitty walked away with the prize.

ViciousAssassin- I'm glad that you're still interested in my story, even though updates have gotten somewhat sporadic as time goes on. What can I say, I've got a lot of stuff on my mind that's kind of distracting me from the story. On a different note, interesting isn't the word my friend.

Fissie- Actually, it was Animeluvr1 who wrote that, to be honest I've never heard of Oasis. #shrugs# What can I say, I'm more of an Aerosmith, Bon Jovi type. I'm glad you read, really glad you laughed, and _ecstatic_ you liked! Hope you update your own story soon.

Andivari- Okay, as long as you fear the wrath of my little sister. (No joke, she's a twelve year-old unholy terror!) Sorry man, no Triad reunion yet, though they're going to be closer to one another's position than they had thought they would be soon. Actually, he is safe, but only because he can use the Zanzoken to escape if things get a little to edgy. (Bad pun, I know) Well, good luck on BtD Redux, hope you can get it up soon.

-AAA- Translation

'_AAA_'-Telepathy

AAA -internal debate

Chapter 30-To Those About to Rock, We Salute You

Scott was having a bad day. Actually, Scott and the entirety of the original X-men team were having a bad day. Logan had taken the New Mutants in for a two hour DR session early that morning, with Storm acting as secondary supervisor. The woman had been in such a hurry that she had asked the first person she saw to cook breakfast for her, without stopping to think about the ramifications. This turned out to be a bad thing, because the first person she saw was a bleary eyed Kitty.

In hindsight, Kitty had been able to prepare a passable breakfast, at least in looks. She had finished cooking before Kurt, who was usually first to eat, had ported down for breakfast. The usual stampede for breakfast had ensued, with Beast 'riding watch on the herd', as it were. As the last scraps were being picked from between Kurt's fangs, Storm had appeared. "Zat vas a really good breakfast Storm," the Germanic boy commented as she went through the kitchen. Ororo stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder.

"I didn't make breakfast today Kurt, Kitty did." She said this just as Shawn and Rick, leading the charge to breakfast by the New Mutants, rounded the corner. They made an abrupt about-face, only to come face to face with a beaming Katherine Pryde.

"Don't you guys, like, wanna try some of the food I made?" she asked. Sam stepped up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ummm, Kitty? Your muffins are eating the silverware. And the bacon just started swimming in the orange juice." Everyone in the room stared at the aforementioned food items, before Scott clutched at his stomach and grimaced.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," he moaned, before he tried making a mad dash for the bathroom. He was tailed by Jean, Kurt, Rogue, Bobby and Ray, who had both grabbed bites out of two muffins before they had noticed that one was absorbing a fork, while the other was eating a knife. Razor the raptor watched them go, and began to chirrup and coo. His collar translated it into: –You know, it's times like this that make me glad I eat mostly electricity, no chance of it being prepared wrong-. Jamie laughed and scratched his saurian friend near the base of his skull, causing the synthetic carnivore to make little cooing noises of pleasure. Beast sighed and got up from where he had been reading his copy of "Science Monthly".

"Well, I guess I'd better go get the stomach pump prepped for use, it looks like it'll be getting quite a workout."

Shawn looked gravely at his hungry teammates. "I don't know about the rest of you are gonna do, but I'm going to let Smaug hunt and eat for me until a professional HazMat team goes over this kitchen with a fine toothed comb and an industrial strength antibacterial."

That had been earlier this morning. Now the original X-men were sprawled over the couches in the rec room, still slightly green. Shawn, Jubilee, Sam, and Rick were playing Super Smash Bros. Melee in teams, with Rick and Shawn trouncing the other two's Bowser/MewTwo combo as Marth and Captain Falcon. Suddenly there was a knock at the front door. Shawn set down his controller, leaving Rick to fend off any attacks on his teammate. Sam and Jubilee shared an evil grin before beginning a full-scale assault on the now grounded Falcon.

As Shawn was about halfway to the door, there was another thunderous knock; and just as he reached for the handle, his innate sense of danger began to go off, prompting a hasty rolling dive out of the way. This proved to be a smart move, since a split second later the double doors were blown to kindling by a rainbow colored blast of light, accompanied by the sound of a guitar riff. Kid Razor strode into the Xavier Institute, and looked around, grinning smugly. "The Kid of Rock heard that you X-Men were good neighbors, so he came to borrow a cup of sugar," he quipped.

There was a small sonic-boom announcing Jubilee's arrival as the Asian girl appeared almost out of thin air, wrapping her arms around the Cleveland superhero's waist. "Why stop at just a cup?" she purred up at the rocker. Razor, who was still a little stunned by the boom, shook his head to clear his head, before scowling down at the girl.

"Get the $&# off me, you psychotic groupie from hell!" he snarled. He began tugging at the girl, but she seemed to have developed the power of super strength in the few seconds she had had to attach herself. "It's times like this the Kid of Rock wishes he had super strength." Shawn dusted some splinters off of himself as he got up, before smirking at the self-proclaimed "Juke Box Hero".

"Save your strength, she's got a grip like an anaconda. Bobby tried to steal one of her N'Sync cd's once, and she wouldn't let go of his head until he gave it back." Razor opened his mouth to say something, an evil glint in his eye, but Shawn cut him off. "Not _that_ head you walking hormone, the one attached to his shoulders! She wouldn't let go until Beast, Logan, Rick and I pulled her off…"

"And he _still_ has a little bald patch!" Jamie announced, coming around the corner. "Who's…" Jamie's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates when he saw Kid Razor standing in the hall, "here", he finally squeaked. He ran up to the Cleveland rocker, and dropped to the floor, salaaming fervently. "We are not worthy, we are not worthy, we are not worthy, we are not worthy," he chanted.(AN: for those who don't know, salaaming is that form of bowing where you kneel, put your hands up in the air, and proceed to examine the floor point blank several times. It has nothing to do with deli meat.) Shawn palmed his face, while Razor basked in the praise and the remainder of the mobile inhabitants of the Institute made their way to the scene.

"Enough with the worship already kid," a translucent figure said, appearing in front of Jamie, between him and Razor. It was the ghost of Ronnie Rocker, who had acted as mentor to Kid Razor when he first received his powers, and had dropped by to check up on his protégé.

"Yeah Jamie, the guy's already got an ego the size of Columbus, no need to increase it," remarked Bahumut, who had appeared, "leaning" against a wall. He strode over to Ronnie, and the two apparitions introduced themselves to each other. Logan snorted as he caught sight of the second ghost.

"Just great, we're turning into a freaking ghost motel here. What's next, Elvis showing up for a visit?" Razor was distracted from everything that was happening when Storm entered the room. He sidled up to the former goddess, dragging Jubilee along with him, and looked her up and down appreciatively.

"Babe Radar going crazy! Babe alert! Babe alert! Major scorching hot babeage! Tell me, are you related to Tina Turner? Because there is no way you could have legs like those and **_not_** be related to Tina Turner!"

Storm blinked at the comment. "Do I know you?" she asked. Razor attempted to put an arm around her shoulders, but was hampered by the groupie clinging to his waist. In the end he settled for winking and leering.

"No, but you're gonna wanna." Before Storm could summon up a lightning bolt to strike the perverted rockstar down with, Rahne, who had tailed in after Sam, asked a question that had just popped into her mind.

"What happened to your old outfit?" Indeed, Razor's outfit had undergone a transformation. His tights and wrist cuffs had changed to white, with light blue-and silver razor blades on them. His face paint was now mostly white, with icicles of light blue and silver.

His shirt was an Aerosmith t-shirt this time. Over that, he wore a sleeveless white leather jacket with light blue-and silver icy patterns on the jacket's sides, with white fur around the neck. The jacket had a white cape, and the shoulders were decorated with football-like shoulder-pads which had large icicle-like spikes on them, while his boots were light blue with a silver-and-white fringe.

Razor's magic guitar had turned into a duplicate of the famous guitar of Queen's Brian May, the Red Special, only the guitar was white with a light blue-and silver fretboard, with the guitar's head shaped like the head of a trident. The rockstar smiled.

"You like it? It's inspired by the reason for my little visit here. She goes by the name of Frost, and believe me, she's one cold hard bitch." Razor walked past the assemblage and wandering into the rec room; glancing at the abandoned video game, before noticing the sickly looking mutants. He walked over to Kurt, pulling a piece of cloth out of his jacket as he did so. "Here blueboy, have a Scorpions shirt."

As Razor passed the shirt off to Kurt, Scott had a sudden attack of nausea, caused by thinking about the fact that he had actually ingested some of Kitty's food. Razor's ears almost seemed to perk up like a dogs, before he nimbly skipped to the side, narrowly avoiding being given a close-up recap of what Scott had managed to get down his throat for lunch. "Sweet Mother of Lynyrd Skynyrd, are you trying to be funny Visor-Boy? Because your comic timing is terrible!" Scott just groaned in reply. Jean glared at him.

"Go away Kid Razor, you're more of an annoyance than Lance and Pietro combined." Scott managed to nod his head weakly. Razor 'pfff'd'.

"He's so whipped." The boys sniggered quietly. A quite cough from behind the group had a few heads turning to see the professor sitting behind them, Bahumut, Ronnie and Logan forming a sort of honor guard around him. "Razor, Ronnie has told me that you've come to the Institute seeking allies. Is this true?"

Razor nodded. "Yeah, the Kid of Rock has run into a little trouble back home that, astonishing as it may seem, the Kid just can't handle alone. As much as it pains the Kid to admit, he needs help. I would have gone to Sonic Blue(1), but he said somethin' bout some sort of project he's helping someone with. And I couldn't go to the Fantastic Four about it either, or Iron Man, or any of those other losers, so here I am."

The Professor nodded, before turning and rolling away, beckoning for Razor to follow him. "If you'd follow me please, we could discuss what type of aid we can provide you with in my office." As Razor followed the Professor down the hall, the various members of the Institute began to chatter amongst themselves, with Jubilee expounding on how cute Razor was to anyone who would listen, while Bobby sulked in a corner. Just before Razor was out of sight, Rahne's sharp ears caught a remark by the superhero that had her chuckling. "Hey Prof! I know a detailer who can put flames on your wheelchair! It'd look awesome!"

-Hack's Digital HQ-

The halls that made up the Hack's digital fortress were silent, except for the sound of typing every now and then. Jon was looking over a wire-frame model of some sort of futuristic armor on his main computer, while his crew was resting up. Suddenly an e-mail message window opened up in the lower corner of the screen. Hack opened it up to find it was a message from a person calling themselves "SteelHedgehog". It contained an attachment that contained some lines of computer code, and the schematics for some sort of electronic pendant device. Hack smiled grimly to himself as he scanned over the code, before opening a different window, which contained a huge amount of nearly indecipherable coding. "Thanks Spence, I owe you one." As Jon began to type furiously, adding the newly acquired code to the mass of code already compiled, Biker strode up behind his creator and friend.

"How long till its done Boss? We only have a short time before they head back to the Academy, and they gain the home field advantage again." There were twin growls of agreement from Scratch, Decoy, followed by two other, more mechanized sounding growls from two shadowed forms behind the others. The glint of a gun-barrel was visible here and there on the large shadows, while green and blue optics gleamed with intelligence not native to a mechanical being. Jon never stopped typing as he replied.

"I just got the final piece to the puzzle. There's a ninety-nine percent chance that the program will stabilize after I add this last bit of code." Biker relaxed at that, before a thought occurred to him.

"And what about the other one percent?"

Hack's reply was candid. "Then at least we'll take them with us; and about half of Ohio too." Biker gave a grim chuckle.

"Well," he shrugged, "I always wanted to go out with a bang, or boom as the case may be." Hack chuckled as well as he hit one final key.

"Hold on to your algorithms folks, cause I aint sure if this thing'll work." After that, he held up one hand and closed his eyes. His forehead creased in concentration as the screen began to glow a light orange around the edges. As the seconds ticked away, the orange color began to permeate the screen, until the entire screen was engulfed in a pulsing orange glow. At this point, Biker got up, and walked out of the door. Beads of sweat began to form on the young hacker's face as he deepened his concentration, while on the screen, small particles of orange light began to pull away from the screen, and gravitate towards the palm of Hack's hand. As the minutes ticked away, more and more of the screen emptied as the code flowed in a thread-thin stream of light to the orb forming in the palm of Jon's hand. As the last particle of data integrated itself into the data ball, there was a flash of light, and then Hack opened his eyes.

As he wiped the sweat from his brow, Biker reentered the room, with an icy can of soda, complete with straw, in his hand. He handed it off silently, to which Hack gave an equally silent nod of thanks. Biker eyed the ball of code that Hack now balanced in one hand dubiously. "So that's our big ace in the hole huh?" Hack nodded, before clearing his throat.

"Sidewinder, what's the status on Frost, the Hellions, and Sharon?" One of the shadows behind Decoy and Scratch shifted, a long, blade-like metal crest coming off of the top of its head reflecting the dim light, as its blue optics flared for a moment. When it spoke, its voice was male, rough and almost metallic, as if speaking through one of those artificial larynxes.

"The latest report sent from the mole program Decoy planted said that they planned to stay in the city for at least three more days." Hack nodded at the report, and began to address the entire team.

"Alright guys, pack it all in, we're moving out!" As the rest of the team scattered, Biker walked up to Jon, who had turned towards the now blank screen, and was regarding the orange ball he held cupped in both of his hands. Biker laid a hand on his creator, and friends, shoulder.

"You do know that she's too important an asset for them to let go without some sort resistance. They _will_ put up a fight, and she'll most likely be right there fighting alongside them, even though she won't want to." Hack nodded solemnly.

"I know that they'll put up a fight, and I'm looking forward to it to be honest. I _have_ to prove my worth Biker, not only to her, but to myself as well. Otherwise," he continued with a sad little smile, "How can I say that I'm truly worthy of Sharon in the first place, if I wasn't willing to go to extremes to get her back?" Biker said nothing, but gave a reassuring squeeze, as if to say, 'don't worry, we've got your back'.

Jon stood up then, and Biker stepped back. "Well then, let's go get my girlfriend back," he said grimly. Biker cracked his knuckles in anticipation, and followed Hack out of the room, which seemed to shut down as the last footsteps faded away.

-The X-Jet, En Route to Cleveland-

The final team roster for this impromptu mission had turned out to be: Shawn, and Maria, since they had the most battle experience out of the rest of the New Mutants, Sam, Tabby and Amara, since they were some of the most powerful of the New Mutants, and Dante, to watch their backs.

Jubilee and Jamie had both wanted to go, but Razor had immediately vetoed the Asian girl, which Beast and Shawn had both seconded, citing what had happened last time Jubilee had been in a fight which had involved Razor. She had become so distracted by one of Kid Razor's attacks that she had been easy prey for the Juggernaut, which had led to Maria's capture, and Shawn's subsequent first transformation to his full feral form. Jamie had been left because of his lack of battlefield experience, and because his powers weren't as controlled as the other's. The rest of the New Mutants had been told they couldn't go for one reason or another, and Logan had conceded that Dante had more than enough power should they run into something unforeseen, while Storm had wanted to stay behind to assist Beast in taking care of the invalid X-Men.

Halfway through the flight it had been discovered that Rick had decided to go as well, albeit unknown to everyone else. When Shawn had questioned his intentions, out of earshot of the girls of course, Rick had shrugged. "Eh, who can knock the view?" he had asked rhetorically, subtly pointing to Tabby. Shawn had seen the signal, and hadn't been able to find anything to say about it.

Dante hadn't seemed to care either way, and had just told Rick to cover his teammate's asses, or it would be _his_ ass on the line. Rick had merely gulped theatrically at the threat, while rolling his eyes. Dante had slipped one of his gauntlets on then, covered it in unholy flame, and held it under the Western mutant's face. The gulp had been real that time. Of course, that _may_ have been due to the fact that Dante was the one **_flying the plane._**

Razor was pacing the length of the cabin, like some sort of caged animal, not even bothered by the lurching of the plane, while Bahumut and Ronnie sat in mid-air, playing poker with insubstantial cards, and comparing experiences with their different protégés. He was not only impatient to get back to his beloved City of Rock, but was also a little peeved at the fact that he had had to leave it in the first place. True, it had been his own idea to leave, but he hadn't liked it. Unfortunately he had been left with no other alternative, and had gone to the X-Men for help. 'But I can't really see these rookies helping me defeat a mime, much less a gang of mutant thieves that even the Kid of Rock had trouble with!' he thought to himself.

As he was pacing and thinking, he nearly missed stomping on Amara's foot. The girl had jerked out of the way just in time, and glared at the rocker, muttering under her breath. Unfortunately, she hadn't counted on Razor's supersensitive hearing, which picked up her comment on "uncouth peasants" quite clearly. He smirked at her, and had replied: "I see stupid people," while looking straight at her. Amara's mouth had just hung open in the air for a few moments, until Tabby had cracked a joke about her trying out for Human Flycatcher, for when the next carnival came to town.

In the same compartment that Tom and Coyote had hidden in when the X-Men had gone to Cleveland for the first time, Jamie and Razor smothered their giggles. You would think that the teachers at the Institute would have learned to do a sweep of the plane before take-off. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view of the situation, Razor had made such a pest of himself wanting to get back to his beloved town, that there hadn't been time for a thorough sweep of the Blackbird.

---To Be Continued---

1: Sonic Blue is a creation of L170E, along with Kid Razor.

There ya go folks, the prelude to a rumble worthy of the name royal! Next time, Razor and the team corner another group of mutants, who call themselves the Hellions, and are led by one Emma Frost. Plus, we find out her connection to Hack, as well as who exactly Sharon is. Until then, any and all suggestions are welcome, and Read & Review!


	31. Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 1…BEGIN!

Take the Long Way Home

Well folks, here's chapter 31, my Christmas present to you all, as well as where my two underappreciated fight muses get to show exactly what they can do. Come on out guys! #BlackWarGreymon and Vegeta walk out of a portal that appears next to me, both looking severely tweaked# What's wrong with you two? #Vegeta levels his patented Glare-O-Death© at me# "What do you **think** baka?! You locked all of your muses and characters away in that hell-hole you call a mind just to play that stupid Kingdom of Loathing web-game, and you expect everything to be just fine and dandy when you let some of us out?! **_I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!!!!!!_**" #Vegeta begins to gather energy to smite me down with extreme prejudice# Okaaaay then… #I snap my fingers, and suddenly Vegeta falls asleep, the half-formed attack dissipating in his hands#

Okay, BWGmon, since you're obviously going to wait until I let my guard down to kill me, you brief Mr. Destructo on what I need you both to do. #I toss a sealed envelope to him# Now I'm getting out of here before short, dark and psychotic wakes up.

AN: I've decided that I'm not going to be doing review replies at the top of the chapters anymore, so we can get to the action faster. Also, I've changed the internal debate symbols to be the same as thought symbols, since won't support the ones I had been using anymore.

-AAA- Translation

'_AAA_'-Telepathy

'AAA'- thought or internal debate

Disclaimer: Lord . . . what the hell am I doing here? (Wolfwood from Trigun) You all have **_NO_** idea how often I ask myself that question!

Chapter 31: Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 1…BEGIN!

As the X-jet began it's descent on Cleveland, everyone on board was tense. Some more so than others. In the back of the plane Shawn pulled at the neck of his X-man uniform, and muttered a string of choice curses under his breath. Rick and Maria, who were nearest to him, looked over at him. "What's your problem?" Rick asked, raising his pierced eyebrow. Shawn got up from his seat, and staggered forward towards the lockers.

"I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more," he growled. "I put up with this stupid uniform because the Prof gave it to me, and even let me modify it a little, but I can't fight in it to the best of my abilities! It's just too damn uncomfortable! Now I know I stashed one of my spare gi's around here…" He got up and made his way to the storage lockers, and began to search through them methodically. Jamie, who had fallen asleep, woke up as Shawn slammed the locker door two spaces down. Razor remained blissfully unaware of anything. Jamie's eyes widened as he heard Shawn mutter about his gi, and he jerked around to look behind him, to see the unique blue and orange material of Shawn's gi hanging behind him. He turned towards the door just as Shawn opened the door. Jamie froze. "Ah, _there_ it is!"

Shawn reached past Jaime, took his gi down, and began to close the door. "Hey Jamie," he muttered, before closing the door. There was a long pause, before the door was nearly torn off of its hinges. "JAMIE?!" Shawn cried in shock. Rick and Maria looked into the compartment over Shawn's shoulders, and indeed, there was a sheepishly smiling Jamie, lying down next to an annoyed looking Razor. "Somehow… I'm not surprised," Rick commented. Jamie crossed his arms and pouted.

"I can help you guys!" he protested as Shawn lifted him out of the compartment. Razor followed after them as Shawn and Rick gently pinned the younger boys arms to his side, and lifted him off the ground, frog-marching him up towards the cockpit. As they went, Maria rebuked the overenthusiastic young man. "Jamie, you don't have enough battle experience to be of much use in this mission. Now one of us will have to protect you, since the chances of you staying out of sight aren't likely at all, which could mean that we will fail and lose this battle." As she spoke, Jamie began to look more, and more depressed, and stopped struggling against the older boys' grips.

'Memo to me, teach girlfriend meaning of the word "tact",' Shawn groaned to Bahumut. The old reptile gave a shrug from his position in the air and replied via Shawn and his' mental connection. 'Hey kid, you picked her, not me.' As he said this to Shawn, Ronnie laid his hand out, smirking. "Full House," he said, reaching for the pile of chips floating between them. Bahumut slapped a hand down on his wrist before he could grab them. He fanned out his cards and displayed them to the younger ghost. "Royal Flush," he grinned, displaying a single fang. Ronnie began to curse vehemently.

As the four made their way through the plane, there were several exclamations of surprise from the other members of the team. "Lad, what in the world do you think you're doing here?!" Rahne exclaimed when she caught sight of him. Razor stopped his pacing as he caught sight of the kid, wincing at the Scottish girl's loud tone.

"Well, The Kid of Rock was wondering where that concentration of the Power of Rock was coming from, and now he knows." Shawn shook his head, he'd ask later. "Hey Rick," he said to his roommate, "You take our little stowaway to Dante, I'm gonna go get changed." Rick nodded.

"Sure, just-" he was cut off as Dante's voice crackled over the inter-plane speakers. "Time to reel it in kiddies, we got a bite! Just picked up a transmission over the police scanner detailing a breaking-and-entry in progress; definite mutant activity. And Razor, the power and physical descriptions match the ones you gave the Prof and me." Razor whooped as the prospect of alright registered in his mind.

"Put the pedal to the metal, and kick this thing into overdrive!" he whooped towards the cockpit, before rubbing his hands together in an evil manner. "Payback time! heh heh heh." As the Jet came in for a vertical landing on a skyscraper near the origin of the distress call, Hack watched the descent of the plane from the roof of a smaller building through a magnification program in his goggles. "Well," he mused, "This is unexpected. But I may be able to integrate this into the plan Slash helped me create." He tapped the side of his eyewear once, and they transformed into a pair of wraparound sunglasses, with a small wire leading from the glasses into his left ear. A series of instructions scrolled down the lens, his eyes scanning them at a rapid-fire pace. A single quick thought had a portion of the text erasing, while another had new text typing itself into the document. Biker stood behind Hack, and spoke as the boy finished.

"So what do we do now boss?" Hack smirked. "We use this to our advantage. Letting Frost and her little lackeys duke it out with Shawn and the others increases our chances of succession by nearly seventy-five percent. There's still a .00000001 chance that we could fail, but I like to think that hitting the long-shots is our business, not theirs."

-In a parallel dimension, a four-fingered man in a leotard-like costume with a star on the front and a sash, sneezed as he threw a dagger. There was a scream of fright from his lovely assistant, but his powers quickly put the errant blade back on track. He scratched his head in confusion. 'What the hell was that?'-

Hack turned his magnified gaze back to the street level stadium entrance, where several patrol cars had been abandoned by the police when they had been struck by a debilitating wave of panic. Even the SWAT team had fled! Only two officers remained; a female officer, and a male officer, apparently her partner, with an extremely red face, almost to the point of being purple. The guy was shouting something through a megaphone towards the two figures that were apparently on guard duty. One was a hulking blonde brute of a teen, almost matching The Blob in girth, though his body seemed to be entirely made up of muscle. The other was Hispanic, and seemed possessed of an unbelievable arrogance. Hack turned a gimlet eye on the pair, before examining the shattered entrance behind them.

"They should be figuring it out riggghhhht aboooout…now!" Even from here, Hack could hear the shrill cursing coming from inside the stadium. Biker chuckled. "Think she's pissed?" he asked. Hack gave a grim smile. "Are the others in place?" he asked, not even acknowledging the rhetorical question. Biker nodded. "Good." Hack watched as Shawn came sprinting onto the scene, paced by the rest of the team. "And now we wait…"

Shawn stopped behind the barricade of police cars, and peered at the two guards, who were apparently communicating to whoever was inside the stadium, since the Hispanic one was talking into a headset, while the huge redhead unfolded his arms, tensing for battle. The female cop turned, and tapped her partner on his shoulder. The cop, who Shawn recognized from his last visit to the home of Rock and Roll, turned and stared at the group. "Kid Razor!" he growled. Razor grinned and spread his arms out as if he was going to hug the officer. "Polanski! Figures I'd find you in the thick of things, you great big walking cholesterol problem!" Polanski began to turn a dangerous shade of purple that _just_ bordered on red. Razor grinned and opened his mouth to fire off another quip, but Dante pushed past him and situated himself between the two.

"Knock it off Razor, make fun of the local law later, right now we need to know what's going on here." He turned to "Polanski" and nodded. "Look, I know this is your town, but obviously you folks can't handle these people." He gestured towards the empty cars before the woman, whose badge identified as Briscoe, interrupted. "They're just kids! You can't expect us to let kids go out there and fight!" Sam, who had been elected un-official junior team leader for the mission, stepped forward.

"Ma'am, we may not look like much, but we can sure as shootin' take care of ourselves." He shot a wry glance at Maria and Shawn, "Some more so than others," he finished. Polanski seemed to be caught, before an explosion of electricity rocked the wall next to the entrance, catching the team's undivided attention. Dante subconsciously drew his sword, while Maria unsheathed her claws, while Shawn brought his Bo from his back into a defensive position in the blink of an eye. Polanski sighed, and moved out of the way, letting the teens pass. Before Razor passed, he stopped and looked at Jamie, then at Polanski and his partner.

"Keep him outta trouble for us, will ya Polanski? Try to keep him from doing anything I would do." Razor's voice had the most serious tone that the cop had ever heard coming from him in all of their encounters (Although that's not saying much) so he nodded his head gravely and watched Kid Razor stride to the line-up that had formed facing the entrance, before turning to the duo of the small boy and the small…dinosaur? Polanski shook his head, then grinned wryly at the slightly fearful look that the kid was giving him and his partner. "Relax kid, not everybody hates mutants." The cop's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "Personally I just don't like super-heroes." Jamie grinned a little at the statement, and Razor settled down, his claws returning to their blunted state, while his teeth retained their deadly edge.

Shawn grasped his Bo tightly, anticipating an attack at any second. Beside him, Rick was as tightly wound as a spring, his biceps at their maximum size, while on his other side; Dante had his sword slung casually over his shoulder. Suddenly a burst of electricity exploded from the entrance of the stadium, lancing through the air towards the small group. "MOVE!" Sam bellowed, taking off into the air. Razor sprang backwards from the blast, while Shawn, Rahne, Rick, Maria, Tabby, and Dante sprang to the sides, with Amara lighting up. Sam was the only one of the three flight capable members of the team that took off into the air, coming back to earth a few yards away from his takeoff point.

As the dust cleared, several forms were visible through the smoke. The Hispanic boy and the Muscle Man were now joined by a blonde guy, who had apparently fired off that blast, since an electric charge was dancing in arcs around his hands. Beside him were two girls. The first was a girl with reddish-brown hair and angular features, with a deck of fanned out cards in one hand, holding them in front of her face like a real fan she peered over the cards with brown eyes. The other was stranger, with lavender hair and a cat's tail twitching behind her. Her pupils were also cat-like, and she stared ahead with a blank look that chilled Shawn's blood to see.

On the other side of the walking mountain were three other people. The first was a woman in all white, wearing a cape, and corset-and-panty combo that practically screamed: "**_I'M A WHORE_**!" to the entire world. The other two were a curvaceous blonde girl and a black teen. All of them were staring at the team with looks ranging from annoyance to pure malice. "I should have know that goody-goody Xavier would do something like this!" the woman in white snarled. Dante and Shawn swung their weapons around to defensive positions.

"Now was that whole explosion _REALLY_ necessary?!" Rick yelled. The blonde guy smirked and cupped one of his hands, forming a ball of lightning. "I'd say that constitutes as a yes Shaggy," Tabby remarked. The blond grinned maniacally, and threw the lightning ball.

Right at Shawn and Maria.

"Of f#king course." Shawn muttered, before launching a defensive barrage of fire at the incoming projectile. When the two elements met, they exploded in a burst of heat and light. However, the static discharge from the lightning ball continued on it's path, using the lance of flame as a guide straight to Shawn, shocking the lizard. The giant chuckled, and complimented his companion. "Heh, nice shot Bevatron." The blonde smirked and buffed his fingernails against his costume, a ridiculous looking combination of red and purple. All of them were clad in it, with the exception of the woman. However, the blonde's smirk disappeared when Shawn got back up, his gi a little singed, but otherwise unharmed. "This was… my second favorite gi. And now…" he said, glaring at the other team of mutants, "I… _AM_… **_PISSED_**!!" His eyes flared crimson for a moment, before he hoisted his staff back into position, his tail lashing the air behind him as it ripped its way into existence yet again. Maria pointed at the blonde, Bevatron. "You," she hissed, unsheathing her claws, "Are _mine_!"

Dante re-sheathed his blade, since one of the enemy appeared to be an electro-kinetic, there was no WAY he was giving them that big of an advantage, and slipped on his gauntlets, powering them up with black flames. "Remember Wildcat, no fatal stuff. Although," he added, glaring at the opposing team, who were growing tenser as each second passed, "as long as the biggest piece left can still talk, then I guess you can have a little fun." At this point, the opposing team leader had apparently had enough.

Frost flung her hand outward in a dramatic gesture. "Hellions… **_ATTACK_**!!!" Everyone immediately paired off against their opponents. Rictor and Boom-Boom came up against the Hispanic teen, while Wolfsbane shifted into her werewolf form with a snarl, while the purple haired girl became a ferocious looking panther-like creature, the two clashing in a snarling tangle of claws, fur, and fangs. Razor chuckled. "That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "fighting like cats and dogs"." However, his merriment was cut short.

Razor's sharp hearing was the only thing that had him dropping into a split that would make most grown men wince. Two disks of black energy sailed past where his head had been just a split-second ago. (AN: Bad pun, I know, I know! OW! Knock it off with the tomatoes already!) Razor glared at the curvaceous blonde, who only giggled as she bounced a ball of black energy in the palm of her hand. "Hi Razor," she called in a flirtatious tone. Razor smirked. "Doesn't the Kid of Rock know you from somewhere? Like maybe the red light district? Your name's Roulette, right?" His eyes suddenly went wide in a theatrical exaggeration of realization. "Oh yeah, you were the best dollar fifty the Kid of Rock ever spent!" The girls eyes narrowed, and she flung several more disks of black energy at the rocker. He dodged each one with a series of flips, cartwheels and other acrobatic feats, making more lewd comments as he went. "I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TONGUE AND FEED IT BACK TO YOU!" she screamed, throwing several disks at once. Razor chuckled as he landed back on his feet and ripped off a riff on is guitar, sending a shockwave of mystical energy at the girl. She countered with yet another black energy disc, this time aimed at the wave of energy. The two projectiles collided, and exploded in a flash of white light. "Well," Razor smirked, "I guess this game just got a _little_ more interesting."

As these little theatrics were going on, Draco and Wildcat had advanced on their chosen foes. Per her promise, Wildcat had taken on Bevatron, while Draco had chosen to take on the card toting girl. He and she circled each other warily, each one taking the other's measure. Shawn made a move to put his staff away, but stopped as the girl drew a card from her deck, and held it in front of her. She concentrated on it for a moment, before calling out "Sword Card!" the card was surrounded by a faint glow, before a sword appeared, floating in thin air before her. The girl put the cards away in a handy pocket on her costume, and grabbed the sword out of the air by the hilt, holding it in the classic fencers salute. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Well, that must be a nice trick to pull at parties. And your name would be…?" He let the question hang in the air for a moment. The girl smirked. "Call me Tarot," she said with a French accent. With that, she charged. In the background, he saw Wildcat dodging blasts electricity from Bevatron, who was doing a good job of keeping her at a distance with lightning blasts. As Shawn spun his staff, he managed to hit play on is CD player. He smirked as Aerosmith's "Rag Doll" began to play. Tarot's eyes narrowed, as if taking offense at the song, while Shawn began to twirl his Bo in a tight figure eight arc, advancing steadily.

Magma was being circled now by the black teen, who had moved in at an astounding speed. His lower legs had unfolded, revealing them to be prosthetics. Small jets had unfolded out of his false legs, as a mass of energy formed under his feet, propelling him into the air. He smirked at her amazed expression. "What? Did you think that your little corn-ball friend was the only one with the power of flight?" He used her paralysis due to shock to launch a pre-emptive strike, trying to knock her out of the fight early on. Unfortunately, this little stunt backfired, as the heat from her body caused him to veer off. He snarled at her as she recovered from her shock and fired off a burst of flames, which he dodged.

Meanwhile on the ground, Dante, Rick, Tabby and Sam had squared off against the giant, the woman in white, and the Hispanic kid. As Rictor and Boom-Boom advanced on the teen though, he merely smirked, before putting both his hands to his temples. Tabby's steps began to slow, as her eyes seemed to glaze over somewhat. Rick stopped his advance as well, turning to look at Tabby. "You okay Tabs?" he asked in a concerned tone.

The teen they had been attempting to attack smirked a little as he watched, keeping his hands firmly on his temples. 'No one can resist the power of Empath,' he thought smugly. The young man's mutant ability allowed him to manipulate emotions. He was able to create new emotions in a person, but it took to much effort to be really useful on the field of battle. However, he had no problem manipulating emotions that were already there. Like say fanning small sparks of romantic interest into full blown passion. He couldn't really pull off love for some reason though.

Tabby turned to Rick, a small half smile on her lips that had Rick experiencing a variety of emotions, interest and alarm being the two that figured most prominently. "I'm just fine Shaggy," she said in a slightly husky voice. Alarm bells began to go off in the western born mutant's head, very, _very_, **BIG** alarm bells, but they were quickly silenced thanks to Empath. Anything else that Rick could have possibly thought was cut off when Tabby grabbed the front of is uniform, whispered "Com'ere," and slammed her lips on his in a soul searing kiss. Dante stopped his advance on the giant, turning to stare at the two teens, who now appeared to be fused at the lips.

"Damn it, can't you two wait to do that until later!" he yelled. Anything more was cut off as a wave of agony slammed through is skull. The flames on his gauntlets died, letting him clutch at his head in pain. He managed to turn around, letting him get a look at his psychic assailant. The woman in white was standing there, smirking evilly at the half demon. "Well now, you've an interesting mind. But I guess even those with demon heritage are susceptible to a psychic attack!" The icy woman glared at the hulk near her as he swatted Sam away from him, causing him to nearly sail right into her. "Watch where you aim Beef!" she snapped. Beef shrugged.

"Sorry Ms Frost," he muttered. He reached out with one mammoth hand, and attempted to catch Sam as the Kentucky born mutant attempted to bowl him over once more. The flying teen was distracted however, by a sharp yelp of pain from Rahne. Naturally, he turned to see what had happened to her, causing his flight path to alter, slamming him into Dante. The two landed in a tangle of limbs and weapons. The half-demon was on a dagger edge between consciousness and blacking out. A moment later, Rahne was thrown into the pile, bleeding from several gashes along her torso, by the feline mutant. The lavender haired girl changed back from her more intimidating form, taking a spot next to Frost. The psychic patted her head as if she were a pet. "Good job Catseye." The purple haired girl didn't respond to the contact at all. Unfortunately for Empath, all the noise ruined his concentration.

Rick and Tabby suddenly realized exactly what they were doing, and jerked away from each other, flaming as red as Amara's alternate form. "Okay, that _hombre's_ gettin' hurt now," Rictor muttered, glaring at Empath and tensing his biceps to build up power. Boom-Boom matched the force of the Mexican mutants' glare easily. "NO ONE FUCKS WITH MY HEAD UNLESS I _SAY_ THEY CAN!!!" She yelled, forming several bombs. Empath gulped audibly. 'I think I just stepped into one _big_, **steaming**, **_pile!_**' he thought, just before a barrage of sonic waves and cheery bombs hit.

Empath managed to dodge the blasts someow, but was taken by surprise when, Rictor catapulted through the smoke screen kicked up by the initial attack, and let loose with a sonic powered haymaker right to the other teen's face. The Hispanic teen was sent flying backwards, landing in a heap near Frost, Catseye, and Beef. Frost had grasped her temples and was currently running a powerful bolt of psychic energy through the minds of Inferno, Wolfsbane, and Cannonball, causing the three to writhe in pain as the waves of mental energy wracked their bodies. Frost stopped her assault to point at the two pissed off teens. "Beef, Catseye, take care of them!"

Razor dodged yet another bad luck disk from Roulette, and yawned exaggeratedly. The area around the two was in a shambles from all the missed shots. Even so, Kid Razor was hurting a bit from the impact of all of the shrapnel that the girl had kicked up through her blasts. He had attempted to retaliate using his mystical blasts, but each time he tried to Finally Roulette managed to control her temper, which had skyrocketed as Razor had taken a page out of Spider-Man's book keeping up a steady stream of trash talk, quips, insults and one-liners. She threw yet another disk, but this time instead of aiming at the Jukebox Hero, she aimed at a fallen pile of masonry which had a broken pipe sticking out of it, right behind him. A gas pipe to be exact. An _active_ gas pipe, to be even more exact. Razor stepped to the side slightly and let the disk fly past. He smirked. "HA! You missed!" Tarot smiled smugly.

"Oh did I?" she asked rhetorically. She pointed behind Kid Razor. 'I _know_ I'm gonna regret this,' the hero thought. He turned to see the last attack strike the end of the pipe, which had been gushing gas. Unfortunately for Razor the gas decided to ignite when exposed to Roulette's little attack. This was extremely unfortunate in that this caused a HUGE gush of flames to spew from the pipe, engulfing Razor in a roaring inferno! Roulette laughed, hiding her mouth behind one hand. Suddenly the fire flared for a moment, before dieing, revealing Kid Razor safely ensconced in a spherical shield. He strummed his guitar, giving the girl an evil glare. "Now, let's get this party goin'" he smiled evilly, strumming a riff on his guitar. The blast of rainbow energy sent Roulette skidding across the ground. Razor smirked and sped towards the girl.

Meanwhile, Magma and the flying kid had reached a stalemate. She couldn't hit him with her fire, and he couldn't get close enough to her to strike her down. The two were now engaged in a glaring contest. The teen landed, his prosthetics folding back into his legs. "Who are you?" Magma hissed. The teen gave a small mocking bow. "Call me Slipstream your highness," he said. "How do you know who I am?" Magma gasped. Slipstream laughed.

"We hacked into your precious Cerebro's data banks and pulled up most of your dossiers." "Most?" Slipstream's face darkened. "That little bastard Hack tightened the security around the new data-files when he visited his little friend. We couldn't even touch the files about the newest arrivals, including that little lizard friend of his!"

As this was going on, Shawn had changed his strategy against Tarot, switching from his plain Bo to the two yard long segments. He caught an attack from her sword between the two crossed pieces, as the two of them came face to face. "You're good," Shawn noted offhand. Tarot smirked. "I was trained to use a sword by some of the greatest swordsmen and women in the world. You don't have a chance really." Shawn smirked right back. "That may be true, but _I_ was trained by one of the world's greatest ninjas. And the first thing he taught me was…" His tail whipped around and smacked Tarot behind the knees, knocking the girl's feet out from under her. "Sometimes you have to fight dirty to win!" He knocked Tarot's sword out of her hand as she fell, watching it disappear out of the corner of his eye. But instead of pressing the attack, he merely put his bo back together, turned off his CD player, and waited patiently. Tarot looked surprised at this. Shawn smiled pityingly at that. 'I guess she's never been taught one of Sensei's most treasured lessons,' he thought with some pity.

"The second thing he taught me was to always give your enemies the option to surrender, and to never cause more damage then you absolutely have to." Tarot nodded. Shawn was so focused on his own fight that he didn't even notice when Bevatron managed to paralyze Wildcat with an electrical blast. He had begun to tune out his surroundings when Razor had begun talking about certain aspects of Roulette's parentage, sexual preferences and appearance that he was just better off not hearing.

"An admirable show of skill, but I'm afraid you're not the only one that knows how to play dirty!" The French girl pulled a different card from her uniform, a very **familiar** looking card. "MUSCIAN KING CARD!" She cried, holding it up. 'Well skin me alive and call me luggage,' was the only thing that Shawn could think. There was a screeching sound as Razor put the brakes on in midair, stopping his attack on Roulette. "_SAY_ **_WHAT_**!?!" he screeched. A figure formed in mid-air, a man with peroxide blonde hair that was spiked straight up, clutching a red and white flying-v guitar and a jeering smirk. The man's eyes were pure white, and his ripped up jeans, pendant necklace and boots were his only items of apparel. "HOW CAN YOU CALL THAT THING THE KING OF MUSICIANS!?!?!?!?!?" Kid Razor screamed in indignation. Emma and the rest of the Hellions smirked at the new addition to their team, while the New Mutants and Inferno stood up shakily. Sam supported Rahne, who was clutching at the wounds scoured along her side by Catseye. Inferno was clutching at his head. Boom-Boom and Rictor had tried to take Beef and Catseye on, but the combination of Beef's muscle, and Catseye's reflexes and claws. Rictor was bleeding from several shallow scratches, while Boom-Boom had several bruises rapidly forming on her torso and limbs, as well as one HELL of a shiner on her right eye.

"TAKE THEM OUT KID RAZOR!!" Jamie hollered from behind the line of police cars. Polanski nodded. "I can't believe I'm cheering for that loudmouth, but as they say, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"." Briscoe was a little overwhelmed by the entire fight, especially at the ruthlessness of these "Hellions", and was staying silent. Razor the Raptor was following the action avidly, his head whipping in one direction, then another, as he followed the action.

Back in the fray, the Musician King raised his hand in an extravagant motion, before bringing it down across the strings of his guitar. The results were immediate, and catastrophic, as a pulse of ultra-sonic sound poured out of the conjured monsters guitar. Kid Razor, Inferno and all of the New Mutants all dropped to the ground, clutching their ears in pain. Emma's smirk widened even more as the teens and their chaperone collapsed, covering their ears in pain as they tried in vain to block out the noise. One by one the students went limp as they passed out from pain. In the end only Razor was left hanging onto consciousness by a slim margin. Polanski had pulled four sets of ear plugs out of his patrol car, a wise investment he had made after running into Kid Razor several times, and had helped both Razor and Jamie with theirs as Briscoe put hers in. The four watched in horror as Kid "Rock N' Roll" Razor struggled to keep hold of consciousness. Polanski drew his police issue, and drew a bead on Emma. "I don't care if I get thrown off the force for this," e growled, "but if she keeps hurting those kids…"

Emma caught the stray thought, and glanced at Polanski. Her skin glowed for a moment, before changing to a strange diamond-like substance. Her look to Polanski spoke louder than words. It said: "Try and shoot me now doughnut breath." There was a sharp report as a weapon fired, and a "_squelch_" as a bullet impacted in a body.

---To Be Continued---

Heh heh heh, yes, an evil cliffie! I know I'm going to get a lot of grief about this, but I thought it was about time to have a small arc in my story. I hope you guys don't get to testy, and I promise the next chapter will be up soon. So until the next update, Read, Review, & any suggestions you have are welcome! Now on to review replies.

L1701E: It's nice to hear that you gave Rodney plenty of respect. I'm glad to hear that _some_ people did. About the whole pick-up line from last chapter, I actually got that from "Boy Meets World". Pretty funny show. I like all the different ideas, and plan to use them as well, except for the one about Jubilee obviously.

Andivari: Well then, I guess it's one frea-kay relationship then. I'm not that good at writing Kid Razor, since he's not my character, but I like him and apparently L1 is okay with how I write him, so that's all that really matters to me.

Agent-G: Sorry that it takes so long to update this stuff, but I try, I really do! And Kid Razor can be a pain, but his heart is in the right place, even if his ego tends to overshadow it a lot of the time.

ViciousAssassin: Yeah, they should outlaw her cooking. Of course, it could also be used as a last-ditch weapon against the X-Men's enemies. In the words of Corporal Klinger, "To hell with the Geneva Convention!"

Animluvr1: you're right, that _does_ sound like the name of a band! I just picked characters at random for them to use, I didn't know he had a particular one he played.

Alleycat588: Thanks for the review, I'm sorry it's been awhile since I read your stuff. I'll try to rectify the situation immediately!

SickmindedSucker: Well, you've got to remember that Kid Razor was making such a nuisance of himself that they didn't really have much of a chance to check the compartments.

Ancient Vampire: Hey man, glad to have you on board as a reader. Remember, any creative criticism or suggestions are welcomed with an open mind. Just ask L1701E or Animeluvr1.

AzureDragoness: Glad to see that my story is still liked by everybody. I know that this isn't exactly timely, but I really, **really** tried to update fast. So do I still get the cookies? Heh, you think Naryu scares me? I've recently made some additions to the roster of my stable of OC's that would have no trouble dealing with him. And to your fbbwat, I was just suggesting a genetic link to the food from the Teen Titan's fridge.

Fissie: Glad that you liked it, hope you liked this one! Yes, there's some plot here as well. And what line were you looking for?


	32. Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 2…I’m Back

Take the Long Way Home

Hey, here's chapter 32, the second part of this three part mini-arc. Who shoot whom? Let's find out!

PS: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

-AAA- Translation  
'_AAA_'-Telepathy  
'AAA'-internal debate

AN: "I'm Back" is a song from the Yu-Gi-oH! TV series, and is property of someone other than myself.

Disclaimer: Ummm…ta-da?

Chapter 32: Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 2…I'm Back

As the shot faded, all eyes turned to Polanski. However, the police officer shook his head, slightly nauseated by the sight of the Musician King's headless body, just before it burst into a mass of energy, which quickly faded away. As soon as the Hellions realized that the officer hadn't fired the shot, they began to look around wildly for the shooter.

Jamie and Razor, using the distraction, dashed out from behind the police cars, narrowly avoiding Briscoe's grasping hands, and ran towards their friends. Jamie began cloning himself at a rapid pace, and the clones set to work carrying the fallen members of the team back to safety. Razor menaced the Hellions while Jamie did this, snapping and clawing viciously at anyone who got to close to his little master. The Hellions formed up into a semi-circle around the dinosaur, clones, and their fallen teammates. Polanski shook off his shock and drew a bead on the teens once more, moving into the line of sight of the Hellions, his pistol not wavering a single millimeter.

Up on the stadium roof, Biker holstered his back-mounted pistol. "I always did hate those stupid lookin' cards," he muttered, referring to the fact that the Musician King was a Yu-Gi-oH! monster card. Hack's voice suddenly crackled in his ear, and the ears of every other team member he had there. "Thank you Mr. Trigger Happy. Alright, since Biker blew our cover, let's go!" Biker mounted Behemoth, and gunned the engine, grinning in anticipation. Meanwhile, on another roof, Hack clambered onto Sidewinder's back, and steadied himself as the scream of jet engines filled the air around them.

Back on the ground, the Hellions stopped their advance on Jamie and Razor, Frost looking around in annoyance. "What is that?!" she demanded. Suddenly, Biker zoomed off the roof of the stadium, over their heads, and hit the ground, doing a sideways skid to stop just shy of the police barricade. He looked at the Hellions as he dismounted, his grin gone and dead seriousness in its place. He drew his back gun and pulled back on both hammers with an audible #click# sound. "Step away from the kids and nobody gets hurt," he growled. Polanski immediately shifted his aim from Frost to this new arrival. Suddenly a voice spoke up from next to him, a gruff, synthesized sounding voice.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, shooting him will only make him mad." Polanski looked around frantically for the speaker, but saw no one but Briscoe. "Briscoe, am I finally cracking, or did you hear that too?" Briscoe nodded. "I heard it," she confirmed.

The voice chuckled. "Over here, on your left." The two officers looked in the indicated direction, and gaped in astonishment as the K-9 patrol car next to them began to shimmer, before seeming to dissolve from the ground up. As the familiar standard paintjob disappeared, sleek chrome became visible, along with two small pods that looked like they contained missiles. However, the most shocking thing of all; was that this cloaked vehicle…had a head! Yes, it looked like some insane scientist had crossed a Hummer with a rhino, and this mechanical behemoth was the result. He, because the voice was definitely male, was heavily armored, with a single horn on the front of his snout and a boxy body. He had blood red optics, with a slightly darker patch in the center, and its head pretty much looked like a mechanical rhinoceros' head. His body followed the rhino pattern as well, but instead of legs, he had wheels, and where the 'hood' on a normal Hummer was, it was tapered down, becoming a sort of neck. The strange beast chuckled. "Call me Overdrive," he said.

Overdrive then swiveled the darker red part of its optic, presumably its pupil, to look at the two police officers. "You might want to stand back, he 'said', though his mouth made no visible movements. A concealed hatch on 'his' side opened up and Scratch and Decoy bounded out and over to stand beside Biker who had engaged in a stare-off against them. And so far, he was winning. Decoy had gained a suit of battle armor similar to Scratches, but instead of orange it was a matte black, and lacked the small series of horns on the helmet that the tiger's had.

As all of this was going on, the scream of engines was getting louder and louder.

_Disappear, outta here,  
It was time to pay my dues.  
I never guessed that you'd be dressed  
In my clothes and in my shoes._

A shape became visible, descending from on high like an avenging dragon, in a vertical drop like that of a Harrier jet. On it's back, a single figure rode, arms akimbo and a face as serious as a heart attack. As the shape touched down, Polanski got a good look at it. Like Overdrive, this also appeared to be a hybrid of animal and machine. But where the land bound beast looked somewhat clunky and a little haphazardly put together, this creature was all smooth lines and sharp edges. It had a head resembling a pterodactyl, the giant ancient flying reptile, with a razor sharp blade serving as its crest. Yellow optics glared as the Hellions fiercely, as its beak clacked in anger at them. Its body was a miniaturized version of a Harrier jet, except that the weaponry was a little bit different. It had what appeared to be a chain gun jutting from just under where the neck joined the body, while four mini-missile pods hung under its wings, as well as two vertical ascent/descent thrusters on either side of its wings. As it landed, clawed feet unfolded from its fuselage, and as it balanced on them, the figure on its back leapt down. "Thanks Sidewinder," Hack said, patting the metal beak of his ride. He turned and faced Frost. "I told you I'd be back."

_You couldn't wait to move right in.  
If I were you, I'd be concerned.  
Ain't no way you're gonna win,  
Bet you didn't count on my return!_

Frost laughed derisively at the data wielder, who just scowled fiercely at her. The Hellions themselves were a mixed bag of reactions, ranging from anger, annoyance and amusement, to shame, and guilt. Hack nodded at Beef. "How'd that math final go big guy?" he asked. Beef shuffled his feet, looking ashamed, but didn't answer. Hack's crew just stood there silently, as he turned his attention to Tarot. "I'd like my card back now Marie," he said in a rebuking tone, holding out one hand. The French girl seemed to be about to comply with his request, before Frost swept back into his line of sight.

"How did you know we were here?" she demanded. Hack gave a dark chuckle as he lifted his eyes to look directly into her icy orbs. Emma almost gave in to the impulse to take a step back at the pure rage that was barely veiled behind his sunglasses. "You should remember from the memory scans you do of your students, that I told a few of them that I was the intelligence branch of my friends little club. Well gathering intelligence and planting it go hand-in-hand you bitch. You should really check your sources better Frost," he added tauntingly.

"So this was a trap?" She asked, crossing her arms. She didn't appear to be alarmed by the thought, merely annoyed. Hack nodded. "Didn't you think that it was just a _little_ odd to find the location of one of those gems in a stadium?" His tone was mocking, and beside him Biker gave a vicious grin, the demon virus' aim never wavering.

_  
You thought you were so tough  
You had it all and took control.  
Now enough is enough!  
I'm gonna take back what you stole!  
Give it up, 'cause now I'm back!_

"But how did you lock down the stadium?" Bevatron asked, looking more than a little irked. The electro-kinetic had attempted to blast a back way out for the Hellions, but a weird energy shield had deflected each blast, except for the one he had used to blast the main entrance wide open. Hack smirked, holding up several long strips of paper with Japanese symbols painted on them. They were wards. "I got a little outside help. It's amazing the things a piece of paper can do when infused with mystical energy and painted with a few symbols, isn't it?" He put the wards away, and slowly drew his daggers, his head tilted downwards slightly, so his eyes were shadowed. "You took someone special to me away Frost." He looked up then, and this time Frost gave in to the temptation to take a step back from that burning gaze. "I came to get her back."

_On my own, all alone  
But this ain't how the story ends  
Now I see  
Those close to me,  
They were just fair-weather friends_

---**_FLASHBACK_**---

Hack crept through the night, Sharon's hand grasped tightly in his own. 'Just need to get over the wall, and we're out of here,' he thought. He glanced back, Sharon's yellow eyes glowing slightly in the darkness as her tail swished through the air. "Are you sure Catseye should be doing this Jon-jon?" she asked quietly, using her name for him. Jon shook his head.

"I know you don't like this cat, but you trust me, right?" Sharon nodded. "Yes Jon-jon, Catseye trusts you with her life!" she said fervently. "Then you have to trust me when I say that Frost is not a nice person. She's just using you to get what she wants!" he whispered back in an urgent voice. Sharon nodded. It had taken almost an hour to convince Sharon that he was telling the truth, but after Hack had pointed out how Frost had been training them; to steal, and even kill, she had reluctantly accepted the truth, and had agreed to run away with him.

"Now where do you think you two are going?" Jon and Sharon froze as Frost's voice cut through the night. Suddenly spotlights flared, blinding the two teens. The outlines of the other Hellions were visible, as was Frost. Her cape moving in the light breeze, Frost walked towards the two, until Jon pulled a handful of kunai from one of his pouches. "Take one more step and you're a pincushion!" he snarled. Unnoticed by Frost, he tapped a button on his watch twice with the tip of one of the throwing knives. Frost smirked at Hack.

"Stupid boy, do you really think that I would let you take her? I've been monitoring her thoughts ever since she first met you!" Behind him, Sharon gasped in shock. "Well, now that she knows, what makes you think that she'll go with you willingly?" Hack shot back. The White Queen smiled a horrible smile. "Willing or not, she _will_ come back!" she said in a triumphant voice.

As she spoke, she raised her hands to her temples. "Oh come on Frost, you should know by now that your mental hocus-pocus doesn't work on me!" Hack scoffed. Frost laughed, though there almost seemed to be… could that be regret in her voice? "You could have been one of us," Tarot said in a subdued voice. Hack heard her anyway.

"I could have been a lot of things.," Hack answered without thinking, his attention focused on Frost. Bevatron chuckled at that. "Listen to the little hero," he taunted, "He actually believes that he has some measure of worth!" Hack never took his attention off of Frost as he flicked his hand ever so slightly. A kunai embedded itself into the ground between Bevatron's legs. "The next one goes about two and a half feet higher," he said in a bored tone. Behind him, Sharon began to clutch at her head in silent pain.

Bevatron leveled a glare that would have put the Gorgons to shame at the boy, before smiling poisonously. "That's just the kind of reaction I would expect from genetic trash like you," he sneered. Any reply from Hack was drowned out in a crash of exploding brickwork as Overdrive drove straight through the wall surrounding the Massachusetts. Academy, followed closely by Biker and the rest of Hack's crew. They took up defensive positions alongside their creator and best friend. (Lets face it, he's really their only friend.) Frost just laughed.

"Pitiful," she sneered, "And completely pointless as well. You've already failed in your objective!" Hack was about to ask her what the _fuck_ she was going on about, when a low snarl sounded from behind him. He turned around slowly, dread flooding his heart, to look at Sharon. But it wasn't his girlfriend, or at least not anymore. She had shifted to her more feral form, and was staring at him, hackles raised, and her were eyes glazed over. "Sharon?" Jon asked fearfully. She only snarled once more, before leaping over his head and bounding to Emma's side. Emma lazily raised one and into the air, and pointed at Hack and his rag-tag group. "Hellions…_DESTROY_ _THEM!!!!_"

---**_END_** **_FLASHBACK_**---

_You suckered everyone in sight  
With promises that fooled them all.  
You may be top dog tonight…  
The bigger they come, the harder they fall _

"_GET 'EM!_" Biker cried, charging headlong at the Hellions. As the exchange had been taking place, the teams of Jamies had been hard at work moving his housemates out of the eminent line of fire. Now a few of them stood by, ready to give whatever aid they could to the fighters, while 'Jamie Prime' played doctor to his fallen comrades, along with Briscoe. Kid Razor stirred weakly as Biker let out a whooping shout, his eyes fluttering open slightly.

Back in the fight, Biker had squared off against Tarot. He began to spin his pistols on his fingers as the two circled around each other, until they were just a blur. Tarot blinked as they seemed to stretch out as they blurred, their shapes shifting to that of a new type of weapon. Suddenly Biker stopped the spinning, snapping the handles of the weapons against his palms with an audible "crack!". Instead of two pistols, he was now equipped with a pair of tonfa, night-stick like weapons used primarily for punches, reverse punches, and blocks. He twirled the two weapons in his hands for a moment, before lunging at her, leading with his left fist. The girl panicked, she'd seen the damage the former virus could do when provoked, even with his bare hands, and grabbed the first card that came to hand and held it out. "Knight Card!" she yelled, as an armored knight appeared in front of her. He vanished just as quickly as Biker's fist smashed through the shield, and then the armored torso, of the phantom knight. Biker flicked his arm in an abrupt gesture, dispersing the energy floating around it, and looked at the French girl in front of him. "Next," he said in a dark voice.

Beef was having his own problems. Overdrive had immediately revved his engine and burned rubber in a rushing headlong attack on the over muscled teen when Biker had shouted. Beef had reached out with one hand, expecting to be able to catch and throw the living car as easily as he had the first time they had met, but was shocked when Overdrive began to push him back easily. Beef brought his other hand to bear, and attempted to grab hold of Overdrives horn. This proved to be a foolish move, as a new edge had been put on the growth, turning it into a razor sharp weapon. Beef found this out the hard way when he gashed his hand wide open. He yelled in pain, but pushed through it, and adjusted his grip so that he was gripping Overdrive by either side of his jaw. He dug in with his feet, creating deep trenches in the ground as the two struggled in a power clash.

Normally Catseye would have been there distracting the enemy for him, but she had been ambushed by Decoy, who was using his size changing ability to confuse the feral, shifting from fully grown to puppy and back again in the blink of an eye as Catseye leapt around, using his smaller size to dodge under attacks, and then slamming broadside into her in his armored form as she tried to get her bearings back.

While this was going on, Sidewinder and Slipstream had risen into the sky, and were attempting to recreate the dog fights of WW I, with a steady stream of low power laser pulses firing from the machine's belly-gun. Slipstream had seemingly been forced into yet another defensive fight, but the tables quickly turned as he got in close to the living plane. His maneuverability was much greater than that of the lizard, and he began to systematically demolish the living gunship's armor to the best of is abilities in an attempt to bring it crashing down. "DON'T TOUCH THAT!!!!" Sidewinder screamed, as the Moroccan teen found several important looking hatches near the joint were Sidewinder's wings joined his body. The teen grinned maliciously, and set about opening the hatches and yanking out any important looking wires and hoses. Sidewinder's engines began to smoke and sputter as he desperately tried to shake the teen off, but Slipstream matched him move for move. The machine eventually tried to shake the teen by going into a steep uphill climb, kicking in his afterburners for added measure.

As he reached the top of his flight ceiling he found that Slipstream was nowhere in sight. The jet powered reptile gave is own version of a smirk, but his eyes suddenly widened as is engines sputtered a few more times, then cut out completely. "Aw son of a _BI-I-I-I-TCH-H-H!!!!!!!,_" he swore, as he began freefalling back towards the earth. On the way down, he passed a sniggering Slipstream, who caught an "I hate you," from Sidewinder as he passed him. He crashed a block away from the battle site, nearly flattening a news van, one of several that were heading towards the fight perimeter, replacing the crews that had run with the police.

Hack watched Sidewinder perform his own imitation of a comet, and bit back an oath that would have gained the saltiest sailors approval. He turned back to the business at hand and ducked a blast from Bevatron, retaliating with a barrage of throwing knives. The electrokinetic caught them in an arc of electrical power, and threw them back at his opponent, causing Hack to yipe before zipping around in a flurry of dodges. "You're still nothing but second rate genetic trash Lutz!" Bevatron cackled as he fired blast after blast of electricity at the fast moving data wielder. "But I'm still smarter than you Bevatron!" Hack called back, moving aside to let the last blast hit a fire hydrant he had been standing in front of. The pressurized water blasted out and smacked right into Bevatron's chest, sending the blonde flying and painfully shorting him out as well. "Well that had to hurt like a mother," Hack commented, before turning his attention to Emma. The woman was locked in hand-to-claw combat with Scratch, and with her diamond hard exterior, the two were evenly matched. However, a crashing sound from behind him had him pausing. Turning, he groaned at the sight that met his eyes.

Beef had managed to roll Overdrive over onto his roof, and was in the middle of punting the living car in the opposite direction of Sidewinder's crash site. As the giant teen's foot made contact, Catseye managed to get a hold on Decoy, and threw the canine bodily through the air, right into Overdrive's flight path! The two were sent sailing over the hill at the end of the street, a loud crash, a howl of pain, and cloud of dust rising to mark their landing. Scratch was the next to go, Beef going to Frost's aid as soon as he had finished with Overdrive. The giant plucked the tiger from a mid-air leap, holding him by the nape of the neck like an overgrown kitten. Emma gave a relieved smirk as Beef shook the cat around like a terrier with a rat, before tossing him in the direction as Overdrive and Decoy. A loud yowl of indignation marked the big cat's flight, but it cut off after he disappeared over the hill. "So much for cats always landing on their feet," Emma smirked. In the background, Bevatron got up with a groan, small sparks dancing over his body before he reined his powers back in. Slipstream came in for a landing then, lashing out at the back of Biker's head as he did so.

Back with Jamie and his 'patients', Inferno and Kid Razor were conscious, though Kid's ears were still ringing like the towers of Notre Dame, and Inferno seemed to have the _MOTHER_ of all hangovers pounding through his head. They weren't quite ready to jump back into the fracas just yet, but their strength was returning gradually. Wildcat was still slightly paralyzed from the massive quantities of electricity Bevatron had poured into her body, but her healing factor had kicked in, and all the damage to her overcooked nerves and muscles was regenerating at their usual accelerated pace. Draco was sitting up already, propped up on one arm and watching his friend fight a losing battle with something approaching anguish in his eyes. Wolfsbane, Cannonball and Magma were still out cold.

Biker found himself beset on three sides now. Catseye on the left, Slipstream behind, and Tarot in front of him. The French girl smirked as she lazily drew a card. "Let's see you trump this!" She crowed victoriously as she held the card up. "TOWER CARD!" She yelled. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, and Biker smirked even as he dodged an attack from Catseye. "I think your luck of the draw just ran out," he called as he spun around the lunging feral, tapping her "gently" with a reverse strike that sent her sprawling. Tarot smirked in return and looked down at Biker's feet. He followed her gaze, and saw that his own shadow had been eclipsed by another, circular shadow. He looked up, but didn't even have time to curse as a large cairn of stone fell on him, effectively sealing him within it. This left Hack all alone, or so he thought. Then Razor leapt into the fray.

The little raptor sped towards Emma, and leapt into the air, his namesake claws flipping into attack position with audible clicks. Hack tried to grab the little dinosaur as he ran past, shouting for him to stop, that it wasn't safe, but Razor slipped past, just out of reach, and then Hack was to busy dodging shots of lightning from an extremely pissed Bevatron to do anything about it. Emma laughed and stepped to meet his charge. She caught the little dino in her arms, and began to squeeze, Razor's claws and teeth not doing any damage to her crystalline skin. The small 'saur's roars of rage turned quickly to sqeals of pain. –Let me go!!- he howled, -I won't do it again! I'm sorry!- Jamie's head whipped up as his little friend's cries reached his ears. Every Jamie clone in the vicinity charged forward with cries to release "his" friend. "Tarot," Emma snapped, "Destroy them!" Tarot didn't look to happy about it, but lifted a card and pointed it at the wall of clones, Jamie Prime bringing up the tail end of the stampede. "Lightning card!" She yelled, as a bolt of chain lightning burst from the card's surface. The horde of Jamie's quailed under the onslaught, and as the electricity leapt from one to another they faded away, until only Jamie Prime was left, his eyes huge as time seemed to slow. He could actually _see_ the bolt as it headed for him, in all of it's deadly glory. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain.

But the pain never came.

Instead he felt someone crouch over him and something like leather envelope his body. He opened his eyes to see the semidarkness behind Draco's wings. The shinobi had used the Zanzoken to get to Jamie before the bolt had hit, but not having enough time to get them both out of there, had settled for the next best thing, shielding the younger mutant with his own body and wings. Shawn cracked on eye open, and gave Jamie a pained grin. "Y-you okay kid?" he ground out from between his teeth. Jamie nodded, dumbstruck. Shawn closed his eye as a peaceful expression came over his face. "Good," he sighed, before he slumped down, falling away from Jamie. Everyone seemed frozen as they looked at the scene. Wildcat rushed to his side, even though she was still healing, and checked his pulse. She sighed in relief when she found it, still strong as ever, before looking at Frost murder in her eyes. She got up and began to make her way towards the woman, snarling.

"You," Wildcat snarled, "Are _MINE_!" A kunai embedded itself in the dirt in front of her, stopping her progress. She looked to Hack, who seemed to be trying to contain his rage. "No," he said softly, "She's **_mine_**!" He looked to Emma, who had dropped Razor, and was now facing him, her Hellions drawn up around her. "You just crossed the line Frost," he said, reaching into his pouch. "Taking Sharon from me and turning her into a mindless slave was unforgivable. But for trying to kill someone who was just trying to protect someone they cared for, _I'LL SEE THAT YOUR SOUL BURNS IN **HELL!!!!**_" He withdrew his hand displaying an orange orb, which he held in between his hands. "**ACTIVATE PANTHEON PROTOCOL!!!!**" he roared. As he did, he crushed the orb between his hands. The effects were instantaneous, and impressive, to say the least.

A pillar of energy rose up around Hack, cycling through the colors of the rainbow like a kaleidoscope and kicking up near-hurricane force winds. Suddenly a streamer of red energy lifted from the column and formed into a winged serpent, before flying in the direction of Sidewinder's crash. Another stream of energy, this one a soft orange color lifted from the column, before forming into a man-like form dressed in a Chinese-style fighting gi, complete with the baggy sleeve ends and the loincloth-like piece of fabric that hung down in both front and back. It headed in the direction of Overdrive's resting place. Quickly following the oriental figure was what looked like a streamer of blue energy, forming into a man with a beret and what looked like a huge hammer on his back. Next was a yellow streamer, becoming a phantom wingless dragon with a large horn on it's nose. It followed the first two towards Overdrive. Last was a streamer of pure blackness, which formed into a humanoid figure with tattered wings and a long lizard-like tail. It floated towards the pile of rubble Biker was buried under, and began to dissipate, flowing through the stone. After a moment, the cracks in the stone began to pulse with dark light, as if in time to a heartbeat. Finally all that was left was a column of green energy with a shadowed figure within it.

"WHAT _IS_ THIS?" Emma shouted as the wind whipped at the Hellions viciously. Razor had gained back enough wits to create a large shield against the wind, contracting it as Wildcat and Jamie dragged Draco closer to the group. "This guy should go into special effects, I bet Kiss would pay big money for this kind of stuff," Kid Razor murmured to himself. A hollow, forced sounding laugh suddenly rang through the air. The column of energy suddenly exploded outwards in a wave of green energy, revealing Hack. At least they thought it was Hack. Unnoticed by everyone, some of the green energy from the pillar was being absorbed by Razor, who had scampered away when Frost had dropped him. The little reptile shuddered as a faint green aura covered him for a moment, before fading away. The little thing cocked his head to the side. –Well, that was unusual- he chirped to himself.

The figure from the column was still obscured by a curtain of smoke and dust, which slowly began to settle. As it did, it became clearer. Inferno's mouth dropped open as he caught sight of him, while Kid Razor began to laugh. "Somebody's getting' sued!" he called in a sing-song voice. Polanski just gave an impressed whistle.

Hack stood tall, encased in an almost exact replica of the Master Cheif's Mjolnir armor from Halo. The only difference was that there were large collar-like constructs on the wrists, looking somewhat like the barrels of a gatling gun, as well as several indentation on his armor where the various orbs were stored. It looked very much like his bandoliers he had been wearing earlier. His daggers were nowhere to be found.

The faceplate on Hack's helmet cleared to show his face, which was deadly serious. "This, Emma" he said gesturing to himself, "is called payback. And It's gonna be in spades." He leveled one more glare at the White Queen. "Welcome to hell Frost; population; YOU!" At that point the cairn of stone Biker had been trapped under exploded in a shower of debris.

_You thought you were so tough  
You had it all and took control  
Now enough is enough!  
I'm gonna take back what you stole  
Give it up, 'cause now I'm back! _

---To Be Continued---

Yes, it's another cliffie. Please don't kill me! At least the update was timely this time, right? (silence) I SAID, "_RIGHT_?"!!!!! … Whatever. Next chapter, see what all the different things that came from that pillar of light actually did to Hack's team. And what exactly will happen to Razor now? A lot of these questions will be answered next chapter, so until then, Read & Review, and remember, any suggestions will be seriously considered!

Review Replies

X00001-Well, I hope that answered that question. There's still the question of whether she'll make it through the next chapter of course.J

L1701E-Thanks man, I consider that a great compliment! Well, pissing people off seems to be Razor's favorite pastime, you know? Yes, I got the samples, and next chapter I'll use a few more of them, they're just to good _not_ to be used!

Animeluvr1- Please don't hurt me! #cowers in a corner# I promise I'll make it up to you about the whole kiss thing. Besides, it kinda opens up the story for some teen angst, and bad romantic advice from friends! And I'm working on the next chapter of RoA as soon as I finish with this chapter, Scout's promise! PS: Is the name of the story "Negative Exposure", or is that the name of the chapter arc?

Ancient Vampire- Well, as you can see, Jamie took part in this battle in a roundabout way, but unfortunately I was never able to see the end of the season, so I didn't see that ep.

Raelina-well, like Ancient Vampire, you too requested that Jamie join in on the fight, and I like to think that I delivered on that. AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fissie-Yea, I know, I was actually surprised myself! By-the-by, how's "The Army Story" coming?

Mr.myth310- Ummm, yes, actually I have, but what does that have to do with anything?


	33. Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 3: The Hamme...

Take the Long Way Home

AAA- Translation  
'_AAA_'-Telepathy  
'AAA'-internal debate

Last Chapter (Done by my beta and Co-author, ProfessorSpork): Previously, on Take the Long Way Home. the Hellions and the X-Men (joined by special guest star Kid Razor) continued to lay the smack down on each other. Just when you started to get comfortable, wham! Hack and his group of digital deviants entered the fray. Plus, we found out the reason we're having this little party: love. And revenge. But mostly to lay down the hurt on Frost. Basically, Emma has Hack's girlfriend Catseye under her psychic voodoo whatnot and he wants his snookums. And he's gonna use his mad Pantheon Protocol super-armor skillz to get her. I wouldn't want to be Frost right now, how about you?

AN: Many thanks to my fight muses, BlackWarGreymon, and Vegeta, as well as my beta, ProfessorSpork, for their help and dedication to this chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to finish, but things have been pretty hectic lately. I am planning on joining the Navy, and have had to make time to exercise in order to lose some weight, alongside my continuing job search. These two factors, along with my upcoming graduation, have seriously cut into my writing time, so please bear with me. Also, I have decided to put this story on a semi-hiatus, in order to focus on my Harry Potter fic for a while. Before you all kill me, let me say that I will still work on this fic from time to time, just not as much as before.

Disclaimer:It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell - Buddha

Chapter 33: Dot Hack: Redemption: Round 3: The Hammer Falls

As the debris from the destroyed stone began to settle and fade, the figure that was Hack became visible again. But he wasn't alone anymore. Behind him stood the lanky figure of Biker, three blazing emerald eyes visible through the dust. He appeared to be wrapped in some sort of cloak though. But as the last of the dust faded back into nothingness, the 'cloak' unfurled with a rustling sound, like… "Holy crap he's…got wings now?" Rick asked, sounding slightly puzzled and just a little let down. Kid Razor patted him on the shoulder.

"I was expecting something a little more impressive too pal." Biker's gaze suddenly focused on the Heavy Metal Heart-throb.

"This impressive enough?" he asked sarcastically, moving his right arm out of the shadow of his wings. A somewhat boxy gun-barrel that was nearly the length of his arm was strapped to his forearm, the black muzzle having the appearance of a pair of closed, toothy jaws. However, other than his new toy and the wings, his appearance remained largely unchanged. Both his pistols were still there, just tucked away, one on his leg and one on his back. However, there were also some smaller changes. The forearm not covered by the bfg had a metal guard worked into the sleeve, and his gloves now sported metal plates that had been worked into the leather fingers. His half-mask, which had been flush with his face before, now curved out from his eyes, down, then inwards again, like the beak of a bird of prey. A pair of studded metal shoulder guards almost hidden in the fur collar of his jacket, and kneepads completed his armor. Stylized skull patterns dotted his jacket, with one large skull stretched over his back, adding another hefty measure of menace to the already intimidating look of the virus.

"That's it?" Bevatron asked in a bored tone. "All those fireworks and this is the final product? A Hell's Angel with a big gun and some Halo rip-off?" Underneath his helmet, Hack smirked. It wasn't a pleasant one. In the distance, the sounds of helicopter rotors could be heard faintly, getting steadily louder. Everyone brushed it off as some news helicopter though, and ignored it.

"I assure you Bevatron, the kid gloves have come off, and we don't intend to pull any punches." As Hack spoke, a rumbling sound began to fill the air. Suddenly with a roar, a huge…thing appeared. It ramped over the hill it had come from behind, and blotted out the sun for a moment. A long drawn out howl and a feline snarl ripped through the air, before it crashed to the ground to the right of the Hellions. It gave a dark chuckle as blood red optics locked with Beef's eyes.

"Remember me musclehead?"

It was Overdrive. A vastly changed Overdrive. Instead of a rhino-car, the digital powerhouse now resembled a dino-_tank_, and had nearly tripled in size! He still had a pair of front wheels, while the back of his chassis was now supported by a set of tank treads. His body actually looked like a body, while his head was a metallic copy of a Monoclonius, a relative of the Triceratops that had only a single, huge nose horn, and a bony neck frill. His coloring was still basic chrome. His missile pods were gone, and the only real armaments that could be seen were his horn, its monofilament edge seeming sharp enough to split bricks of titanium, while atop his back was a gleaming vulcan gattling gun. The glistening barrels seemed to be eager little mouths, ready to spit death at the enemy.

Tabby's mouth dropped open. "I have _got _to get me one of those!" she finally managed to say. Dante shuddered at the thought of the amount of havoc she could, no _would_, cause in Overdrive. "Just think of all the stuff I could load into him from the mall!" she finished.

The Hellion's finally managed to shake off their stupor at seeing their supposedly defeated enemies come back, even if they all weren't there. "Hellions, attack!" Emma cried. Bevatron and Roulette launched a wave of lightning and bad luck discs, but midway to Hack and his team, several rockets intercepted the wave of attacks. The lightning causing the missiles to explode, and the shockwaves of the explosions caused the discs to veer off-course and hit several lampposts, which immediately fell to pieces as welds weakened, bolts came un-bolted, and screws came loose. A figure, smoking rocket launcher in hand, leapt down from the hatch on Overdrive's broad back, followed by another lithe figure. They leapt to the ground and took places on either side of Hack.

They _looked_ like Scratch and Decoy. Somewhat. But they were both standing upright, their forms anthromorphic. The only vestiges left of their animal natures was the fur that showed beneath their clothes, and their heads, which still remained animalistic. Decoy was dressed in tattered army fatigues, with a beret tilted rakishly from one side of his head, and heavy-duty combat boots covering his feet.. Slung across his back was a large war hammer which had slightly pointed ends, while a still smoking rocket launcher lay in his paws, a scrolling gothic script along the sides reading "_Mad Dog_", while the muzzle was decorated by a picture of a mad dog's head, mouth foaming and open in preparation to bite. He was compact and muscular, and stood about five feet tall, and was smirking hungrily at the Hellions.

Scratch on the other hand didn't look quite so impressive. He was dressed like Li from Card Captors, in a Chinese style fighting gi, sans hat. Clawed hands were nearly hidden in baggy, oversized sleeves, while his feet were covered in sturdy looking shoes, sharp looking claws sticking out through the toes of the footwear. In his ear was a small earring, in the shape of a curled up tiger. He stood at about five foot four, and appeared to be coiled like a tightly wound spring. He directed a flat stare at the Hellions, his gaze resting on Empath a tad bit longer than the others.

"Ms. Frost, perhaps it would be best to sound a tactical retreat now," Empath suggested nervously. Frost glanced at the New Mutants, who were beginning to get their bearings back, and sighed. "Very well then, Hellions; retreat!" Jetstream took off into the air as the rest of his team made a break for it.

The street they had been fighting on was a T-intersection, with the stadiums street entrance at the head. Two routes were blocked off, one by the New Mutants, Kid Razor and the two officers, the other by Hack and his cohorts, leaving the third basically deserted.

As the Moroccan teen shot through the air, he was cut off by a grim looking Biker, who had appeared in front of the boy in a whirlwind of black feathers. "Going _down_!" Biker growled as he leveled his blaster at the boy. The toothy muzzle of the gun opened as Jetstream desperately tried to avoid the viral demon. His efforts proved futile though, as a pulse of purple energy slammed into the teen's stomach, sending him back to greet the earth, painfully.

As this was going on, Frost and the remaining Hellions were attempting to effect an escape. Tarot looked back as Jetstream impacted, and made a move as if to go back, but Beef moved in her way, motioning for her to keep going. "We'll get him back later, keep movin'," he said roughly. As the Hellions ran, the sound of the helicopter from earlier was getting steadily louder and louder. Just as they were about to round the corner, something rounded it coming towards them on street level!

It was a Viet Cong's worst nightmare, a demonic fusion of steel and flesh torn from the depths of a war veteran's personal hell. It had a body reminiscent of some sort of attack helicopter, either an Apache or Cobra, but instead of a cockpit it had a long, snaky neck, topped off with what looked like a million teeth. Two yellow eyes glared at the Hellions from above that gaping maw, while on the large wing-like struts, two huge Vulcan cannons whirred and clicked as they prepared to fire. Two rocket pods near the body smoked slightly, seemingly in anticipation of firing. The tail that whipped behind this monstrosity appeared organic, but it's tip carried the metal balancing rotors found on the tails of helicopters. "Where do you think _you're_ going?" it mocked in a rumbling voice.(AN: Anyone who can place the inspiration for Sidewinder's new form gets a plateful of homemade cyber-brownies, compliments of my mom)

Glass crunching underfoot had the Hellions turning, to find themselves boxed in. On one end, this heavily armed behemoth, on the other, Hack and his crew, all looking for payback. And buildings fencing them in on either side. "Nice work there Sidewinder," Hack called. Emma and the Hellions gathered together into a circle; with Slipstream managing to zip above Hack's head and join his team. He would have tried to make an escape on his own, but Sidewinder tilted his torso upwards, raising his deadly rotors into the boy's flight path. To proceed would have meant becoming puree. "I'll tell you what Frost. You release your hold on Sharon, and we'll let you and yours live," Hack said in an amiable voice. Frost's diamond face contorted with rage. How _dare_ this insolent child think he could dictate terms to the White Queen!_,  
_

"I think not Lutz. I don't know _how_ you managed to keep me from tampering with her memory, but once I do, I'll wipe every memory of you she has! Then where will you be?" Though you couldn't see his face behind the mirrored visor of his helmet, Hack's voice sounded as if he was glad that Emma was shooting down his offer, as he cracked his gauntleted knuckles. "The hard way it is then."

Suddenly, a rainbow colored blast shot over Hack's shoulder, and blasted Empath in the stomach. The teen went flying back, and landed in a slightly smoking heap, slumped against one of the buildings.

"Tell me something," Razor quipped at the smoldering teen, after performing a leaping somersault over Biker's head, "Are you people high or are you just plain stupid? I mean, not only are you taking on the Kid of Rock, but you're also taking on some pretty bad ass looking customers, that's what the Kid of Rock thinks!" Biker growled in annoyance, and tried to use his blaster to nudge the loudmouthed hero out of the way.

"That's all very nice, but we need to kick the bad guy's asses now," he grumbled. At that moment, Frost sent a mental command to her students. It was a single word: '_Attack_'. Catseye sprang forward with a snarl, attempting to disembowel Razor with her claws. The Jukebox hero managed to dodge with a contortion that had aches going through Dante's spine just looking at it.

"Awwwww, wook at the wittle purple-haired catgirl twying to claw my eyes out," Razor laughed, treating this attempt on his life as if it was a big joke. "Come on you Hello Kitty reject, let's see what you got." Razor strummed his guitar to charge up a blast of mystical energy, but Scratch jumped in the way. "Hey, you ruined my shot!" Razor yelled at the cat-man. Two chains, barbed weights at the ends, fell out of the darkness within Scratch's oversized sleeves. The cat grasped them in his clawed hands, and began to twirl them, the links creating a deadly sounding whistle as the spun through the air, blurring until they looked like two disks, centered around his paws. When he spoke, his voice was calm and collected.

"This one is mine. She must not be harmed. That is the purpose of this form, immobilization without serious physical harm." As he said this, he gave his weapons one final twirl, before sending them zipping through the air towards Catseye. Length after length of chain emerged from within his sleeves with no end in sight. The chains writhed in mid-air, seemingly on a direct collision course with the feral's legs.

However, Catseye was able to twist in mid-leap, avoiding the chains. Scratch immediately clamped both hands down on the separate chains, and snapped his elbows backwards, as if preparing a double barreled punch, and the chains retracted to their previous lengths almost instantaneously. He leapt to the side as Sharon pounced on his previous location, and coolly raised one eyebrow. "This will not be as easy as expected," he said in a calm voice. He raised both arms up level, and retracted the chains all the way back into their recesses. "_CATS_ **_CRADLE_**!" he yelled, as a multitude of chains shot from his sleeves.

The fight so far had led the two into the entranceway of a narrow alley, and now the chains were impacting against the sides. But instead of sticking in the walls on either side, they seemed to ricochet, while still managing to stick to the point of contact. Catseye tried to dodge them all, but eventually she found herself cocooned in a tight net of glowing chains. As she struggled against her bonds, Scratch yanked back on his arms. The chains binding the feral mutant seemed to flow together for a moment, before resolving into a single length of chain, pinioning the cat girl, while the rest dissolved into small sparkles, leaving two chains leading back to his sleeves from mass of chains containing the struggling feral girl. He tapped his earring, which also served as his communications link to Hack. "I've contained Sharon. The next phase is ready to proceed."

In the meantime, Razor had moved on to a new target to torment. Bevatron was sending arcs and bolts of lightning at the Heavy Metal hero, but all of them were being dodged or absorbed by shields. "Stand still and fry like a man you chicken!" Bevatron growled. Razor suddenly leapt over yet another assault of electricity, and came face to face with the startled blonde. "Since you like light shows so much, you're gonna get a kick outta this," Razor smirked. "**_GLAM FLASH!_**" the superhero roared, as his face paint erupted in a brilliant burst of light. Bevatron howled in agony, clutching at his eyes. Razor wasted no time on a follow-up attack. "HEAVY **METAL _PUNCH!_**" The mystically powered punch to the gut sent Bevatron sprawling, but also gave Razor a rather nasty shock, as he lost all feeling in his arm, thanks to his opponents natural electrical field.

As Razor shook his arm to restore feeling to it, Bevatron shakily rose to his feet. Razor's eyes sparkled with the light of battle behind his sunglasses. "Round two," he yelled, sailing towards Bevatron like a rainbow bullet, before shouting "DING!" as he landed another punch, in the other teen's face this time.

Across the way, Biker was taking potshots at Jetstream, who was forced on the defensive yet again. 'This just isn't my day,' the boy thought morbidly, as he weaved through the semi-solid sheet of laser fire that the demon virus was laying down. Double barrels suddenly filled his vision, as Biker popped up in front of the boy, one of his pistols in his free hand.

"And this, boys and girls, is called a rope-a-dope," the winged virus cackled, before clubbing the teen with his gun-arm, and re-holstering his pistol. He turned to assist the others with their own fights, but was knocked off his feet by a low altitude flying tackle. He actually flipped over in mid-air, before his face got nice and friendly with the pavement. He got up, snapped his broken jaw back into place with a sickening "_crack_", and wiped the tiny stream of purplish-black fluid that had leaked from his nose away with a thumb as he glared at Jetstream.

"Ya just don't know when ta stay down, do ya kid?" he asked.

"The same could be said of you, virus," Jetstream shot back. And then the two were off again.

While those fights were going on, Decoy and Overdrive were facing off against Beef and Tarot. Overdrive was firing on Beef with near-reckless abandon. But instead of bullets, he was firing laser bursts. And while not as fatal as hot lead, they were quite painful, something Beef found out the hard way. Each individual shot was a burning sting to the huge teen, and the rate of fire was astonishing. "What's the matter muscle head?" Overdrive taunted, "Can't take the heat? Then get offa the battlefield!"

Beef responded by ripping up a piece of pavement and attempting to use it as a shield. It worked, somewhat, but as Beef advanced on Overdrive the continuous fire was steadily chipping away at his shield, eventually allowing random shots through small holes, which became bigger and bigger the closer the over-muscled teen got to his foe. Beef, seeing that his shield was about to fall apart, let it fall, and pulled up a nearby streetlight with both hands. He began to twirl it like a staff, in some vain attempt to block shots. It didn't work much better than the asphalt shield had.

As Beef was desperately attempting to block the shots, Overdrive clamps from his sides, both near the front and to the rear, which crunched deep into the concrete. His gattling gun slowed to a halt, before the barrels sprang apart into a sunburst formation, and began to spin once more, in the opposite direction. Beef lowered the dented and slightly smoking pole from were it was protecting his face, and peeked over it. "This can't be good," he grunted. He decided to charge the dinotank, to put an end to whatever he had up his metaphorical sleeves. As Beef charged, a ball of crackling red energy began to build in front of the whirring barrels. Overdrive smirked as best he could.

"I hope you like pain muscle head, cause you're about to experience a whole new _dimension_ of it! _ARMAGEDDON_ **_CANNON!_**" The ball of energy exploded outwards in an intense beam of red destruction, pushing Overdrive backwards almost five yards despite the anchors he had deployed. It sped towards Beef, ripping up pavement in its wake, before impacting with the huge teen, carrying him along in front of it, like the figurehead of a ship.

A few yards away, Decoy had slung his rocket launcher over one shoulder, and retrieved his war hammer from his back. Tarot had dipped into her reservoir of cards, and pulled out another familiar looking card. She smirked as she spoke to Decoy. "You know, I should really thank Jon. He showed me what kind of…potential these Yu-gi-oH! things have." She turned the card with a flourish as she called out a name. "Giga Gagagigio!" A strange lizard man with cybernetic implants and spiked armor covering half his body appeared, and immediately charged at the dog man, claws glinting in the sun. Decoy covered a yawn as his newest foe rushed at him, before springing into action.

At the last possible second he took two steps to the right, and swung his hammer in a powerful sideways arc, catching the lizard in the side and sending it staggering off course. He followed up with a vicious overhead swing, but the creature blocked it with an elbow spike, and countered with a viscous stab attempt with its claws. Decoy managed to dodge out of the way of serious harm, but still came away with a shallow gash across his chest. He held one hand to the wound for a moment, and glared at the monster and its master. "So that's the way you wanna play huh? In that case…"

Decoy twisted a section of his hammers handle, and a hum began to emanate from the head, so low that it was barely audible to his own sharp ears. The lizard came at his again, feinting with its left and then unleashing a hard jab with its right. Decoy fell for the feint, and took the jab right on his muzzle, but managed to get in a powerful blow on the creature's left elbow. It screamed with pain before going silent as Decoy gave a final overhand swing, which seemed to cut through the beast like a hot knife through butter! "Who's a good bad dog?" Decoy smirked as the lizard monster dissolved away.

A howling snarl was the answer, as a pack of assorted monsters and apparitions charged him, all howling and screeching for blood. Decoy blinked. 'Damn it! She must have gone out and gotten some of the toughest, and _fugliest_, lookin' cards on the market! So…guess I need to turn up the heat,' the dog anthro thought. He raised his hammer high overhead, the humming increasing as it rose. Then, as the humming reached a pitch that could almost shatter glass, he brought it down, howling "_MJOLNIR_ **_THUNDER!_**" A shockwave of sonic energy released as the hammer hit the ground, literally tearing the creatures apart, and sending Tarot flying backwards. As the girl landed, she smacked her head against some broken brickwork, and was knocked out without so much as a whimper. "If you can't run with the big dawgs…" Decoy panted, leaning heavily on his hammer as if it were a cane, "then stay on the porch!" Hack had designed the weapon with a built in sonic disrupter, plus a wave integration feature, increasing the potential damage of any attack, but the only way they had been able to power it was to have it draw its energy directly from Decoy himself. Added to that, the Mjolnir Thunder attack was currently the strongest attack in his arsenal, meaning it left him almost useless in a fight.

On the other end of the street, Hack and Sidewinder were going up against Roulette and Emma. Unfortunately, the only thing Sidewinder could actually do was provide covering fire for his master. His weapons were more powerful than Overdrive's, and the fact remained that either one of them could end up killing someone with a misfired blast. But since Beef was a lot tougher than the other Hellions, with the exception of Frost in her organic diamond form, _he_ was okay. So Sidewinder was stuck providing covering fire against Frost, while Hack went hand to hand with Roulette. Hack had just dodged under another wave of bad luck discs when he received Scratch's message. He placed one hand against the side of his helmet, activating his own comm. unit.

"I read you Scratch. Keep her contained until I ca-WHOA!" Hack leapt out of the way as Overdrive's attack, carrying an unconscious Beef with it, bulldozed past the spot he had just been standing in. He used the flying rubble and dust as a smokescreen to slip away from Roulette, who began to throw her disks wildly.

Back with the New Mutants and the two cops, Rick blinked. "How long have they been fighting now?" he asked. Dante checked his watch. "About five minutes," the half-demon replied. The western mutant blinked again. Only five minutes and already the street looked like the Gaza strip! These guys were _good_ when it came to demolition. Polanski on the other hand, was on the verge of tears as he watched his city being torn asunder. He began to bawl as his favorite doughnut shop was neatly bisected by Overdrive's attack, leaving Beef in a tangled heap within the wreckage.

Amara watched Kid Razor fire more blasts at Bevatron, who was staggering now though he refused to go down, thus ripping up even _more_ of the street. "I think they're doing just fine."

"Besides," Bahumut put in, appearing with his arms slung over Tabby and Rick's shoulders, causing them to jump, "Jon always _hated_ people stepping into personal matters, unless he asked for their help specifically." Dante nodded in understanding.

"And since this is to reclaim his girlfriend, it's about as personal as you can get."

Bahumut nodded, before turning his attention to the two teens he had his arms around. "And speaking of personal, kids... that was steamy! Nice tongue there, Tabitha," he grinned evilly, wiggling his eyebrows. The two teens flushed red.

Maria was kneeling beside Shawn, keeping an eye on him, though she kept looking at the battle longingly. The boy was still unconscious, and his body was burned somewhat, while his gi smoldered. Razor walked over to the two, and looked down at Shawn's still face curiously. –Is he gonna be okay?- he chirped. Maria shook her head. H.Y.D.R.A. hadn't trained her in medicine, banking on her healing factor to take care of any injuries she could have sustained over a mission, so she didn't have much of a clue as to how her boyfriend was faring.

She shook her head at that thought, still finding the fact that someone had been willing to try to break through the emotionless shell of a trained assassin, to uncover the girl that she could have been, had she been born in the usual manner, instead of created as a weapon, a tool. She felt a wave of some sort of warmth wash through her, but beat it back down. She was still somewhat afraid of these emotions, preferring to keep a tight leash on them, at least until she understood them better. Rahne put a supportive hand on the other girl's shoulder, but Maria flinched away, still not all that comfortable with other people touching her more than absolutely necessary. Rahne frowned slightly, but let it go.

Back in the thick of things, Hack had managed to slip away from Roulette and Frost successfully, though he had almost been skewered by a piece of shrapnel from an exploding pipe. Only his armor stopped it, but he knew he was going to have a monster bruise in a little while. While he could do wonders, even miracles, with computer data, even he couldn't make an armor that completely absorbed impacts, only dampen them. He passed by Kid Razor, who was banging Bevatron's head against a brick wall repeatedly, and gave the stirring Empath a swift chop to the back of the neck, knocking him back unconscious.

"Razor," Hack yelled, getting the rocker's attention. Kid Razor flew upwards, avoiding a volley of shots from Biker's hand cannon, and landed next to Hack.

"What can the Kid of Rock do for ya bud?" he asked, setting up a forcefield to deflect any stray shots from Biker and Overdrive, who had pulled up his anchors and charged after Beef, plowing up rubble like an ocean liner through the waves.

"I need you to come with me. You're essential to this plan. That's the whole reason I lured the Hellions here in the first place." As he spoke, Hack was sprinting towards the alley Scratch and Sharon were, with Kid Razor easily keeping pace, both of them dodging shrapnel and stray fire, both friendly and non. Kid Razor preened, even as he dodged a spray of gravel from Overdrive's treads as the dino-mech attempted to run Emma down.

"The Kid of Rock is always a key player. What do you need done?" Hack rolled his eyes at the Jukebox Hero's arrogance, but refrained from comment. 'I _do_ need this guy's help after all," he thought. The two rounded the corner to find Scratch attempting to calm Sharon, who was still struggling wildly. Hack gestured at her.

"I need you to set up a protective field around me and my girlfriend, and then I'll put a psy-block on her. That'll break Frost's hold on her mind, permanently." Kid Razor nodded, but frowned, slightly puzzled.

"How'd you keep Frost from wiping her memories in the first place anyway?" he asked curiously, as a globe of rainbow energy began to expand outwards from his guitar, enveloping Jon, Sharon, and Scratch. In answer, Jon snapped his fingers, and a fine green mist began to seep from Sharon's hair, before coalescing into a green, impish creature, with large bat-like ears, cruel looking hooked claws, a sharks-mouth grin, and a glint in its eye that stopped just short of malevolent.

Out on the battlefield, Frost dodged another burst of fire from Sidewinder, and scowled as she felt her connection to Catseye begin to slip. She managed to send one last command before the link was severed completely.

"Meet Gremlin," Jon introduced the creature, "He's a virus I reconfigured, like Biker. But I kind of kept him closer to his original viral nature. He loves disrupting things, especially if they're important. Needless to say, I don't like letting him hang around the base much." Gremlin let out a high pitched, insane sounding cackle, making a throat-slitting motion with a clawed thumb. "But I'll get to specifics later." Hack tapped one of the indentations on his armor. The section he tapped slid apart, and a small, light blue pendant, streaked with white and silver fell out into Jon's palm. He held it up by the chain, and nodded. "Spence does good work," he thought aloud, before turning to Catseye, whose struggles had increased ten-fold when Frost's connection had snapped, the woman's last instructions to her to escape and return to her playing in an endless loop within her skull.

Jon observed his girlfriend's moves with sad eyes, then in one deft motion, draped the pendant over her head. Sharon stopped abruptly, and slumped forward, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She stirred after a moment, eyes opening slowly and focusing on Hack. "Jon-jon?" she said in a near whisper. Jon nodded, a small glint in his eyes betraying the extent of his relief. There was a clanking sound as the chains around Sharon came away, whipping back into Scratch's sleeves. The girl teetered for a moment without the chains to act as a support base, before Hack's arms were around her, gently cradling her form.

"It's okay Cat, I'm right here," Jon soothed the girl. Sharon buried her head against his armored chest, and began to cry. Jon continued to try and soothe the girl as best he could, gently stroking her hair with one hand while hugging her as fiercely as he dared with the other arm. He looked over her shoulder to Kid Razor, who had kept his mouth shut for once in his life, and Scratch. "No mercy," he mouthed at them, his eyes going hard for a moment, but they softened once more as he turned them back to Sharon. Kid Razor and Scratch exchanged looks, and nodded to one another, their eyes hard.

Outside of the alley, Frost, Empath, who had woken once more, Bevatron, who had only been laying low, Jetstream, and Roulette had been backed into a corner against the wreckage of the doughnut shop. Jetstream had finally broken away from Biker, and scooped up the comatose Tarot on the fly. Decoy had still been to drained to stop him. "Ms. Frost?" Empath said. Frost kept her gaze on the computer programs, which were steadily advancing under a constant hail of bad luck discs, telekinetically manipulated debris, and lightning bolts as she replied.

"What Empath?"

"I think we're in big trouble," he said nervously, as Scratch and Kid Razor joined the advance, the first using his chains to snag debris from the air and send it back at the Hellions, while the second was constantly laying down streams of mystical energy. Behind them, Inferno had had enough of waiting around, and had pulled his Hellfire gauntlets back on. They blazed with black fire as he stalked behind the others, tilting his head slightly to let a bolt of lightning blast past him and ignite a store awning behind him. Frost's reply to her student was completely monotone.

"I can see that Empath."

The gathered allies formed into a semi-circle, as the flow of fire abated. Biker cocked his arm cannon, the 'ca-klick' sounding ominous in the near stillness that had descended for a moment. Decoy had joined the group, and swung his hammer, a low growl forcing itself out from between clenched teeth, while Scratch snarled. Kid Razor hovered half a foot in the air in his force-shield, a wicked grin in place as he made a gun with one hand, and pantomimed shooting Frost. Overdrive and Sidewinder hovered just outside the semi-circle, both of them looking their most menacing. Suddenly a Inferno's voice cut through the air. "Wait." The others stopped their advance for a moment as he stepped forward. "This is a one-time deal Frost. A peaceful, unconditional surrender, or…" Razor cut in at that point.

"Give up or we're gonna slap the taste outta your mouths jabronis!" (Sorry for the OOC-ness L1, but I could just _see_ Razor channeling Thunderbolt there.) Inferno sighed, and resisted the urge to massage the migraine growing between his eyes.

"Thank you Razor. Now," he continued, "are you acceptable to these terms?"

Bevatron's hands crackled with power as he sneered at Inferno. "You think a bunch of freak computer programs and some backwoods genetic trash are enough to stop us?" Razor hooted.

"What fight have you been in pikachu-boy? These guys were whooping your asses even before the Kid of Rock decided to lend a fist!" Bevatron growled.

"Don't. Call. Me. PIKACHU!" He screamed, throwing arc after bolt at the Heavy Metal Heartthrob. Razor danced rings around the attacks, all the while chanting: "Pika-boy, pika-boy, pika-pika-pika-boy! Looks like Ash needs to train your sorry ass some more, ya electric rat!"

Bevatron released a primal scream of rage, but he stopped short when Frost snapped at him. "Bevatron, control yourself!" She faced Inferno squarely. "And why, pray tell, should we surrender?" she asked coolly. Inferno arched a brow.

"Well, for starters, you're outnumbered, outgunned, and the police are on their way. Oh yea, and you've hurt my charges and managed to piss me off as well." As he spoke, the flames around his gauntlets flared up, mirroring his anger. Even as he spoke though, he felt something niggling at the back of his mind, cajoling with him to be afraid of the Hellions. The flames began to recede slightly.

"Not this time _asno-agujero_," he heard Rick snap, as the signature sound of his sonic attack tore through the air and nailed Empath to the wall. The teen dangled there for a moment, before dropping out of the impression he had created in the brickwork, and landing in a heap.

"He's gonna feel _that_ one in the mornin'." Biker snickered. As the standoff continued, an armored vehicle, with the word SWAT emblazoned on it, arrived on the scene. Several men in riot gear disembarked, and formed a semicircle around the Hellions and their opponents. Some broke off from the group to cover the injured New Mutants with assault shotguns. Polanski and Briscoe stepped in front of the kids however, flashing their badges.

"I'm officer Polanski with the CPD. These kids are with us, as is the gentleman with the flaming gloves and the creatures with him. Please stand down." The officer in charge of the squad walked forward and made a cursory examination of Polanski's badge. He finally nodded and gestured to his squadmates. The officers surrounding the injured kids immediately let their guns hang down, and trooped over to stand guard over the Hellions.

"Man, you guys got here just in time!" Jamie remarked to one of them as he passed. The officer merely ignored him, turning back to the Hellions. "Jamie scratched his head. "What's with him?" he asked Razor. The reptile shrugged. Back in the circle, Frost put her hands behind her head.

"Alright officers, we'll come quietly." Her students looked at her like she was crazy, before slowly copying her movements. 'Somethin' don't feel right 'bout this,' Biker thought to himself, unaware that everyone else was mirroring these same thoughts, as the Hellions were quickly and efficiently loaded into the armored van. Several of the officers were required to help dig Beef out, and load him up, but they managed it in record time.

"Is it just me, or are they mucking up procedure big time?" Tabby asked, as they finished loading the Hellions. Polanski, who had gotten in contact with police headquarters, suddenly leapt out of the patrol car, his face a mask of rage.

"Stop em, they're fakes!" he roared, pulling his police issue and firing at the car, which had peeled out. The bumper flipped upwards, and a thick, noxious smog billowed out, obscuring the vehicle. The only clear area was around Sidewinder, whose rotor wash kept the smoke from getting near him. Unfortunately for the others, they weren't so lucky. They began to cough and choke as the toxic smelling fumes settled over them. Razor attempted to erect a forceshield to dispel the smog, but lost his concentration as he doubled over coughing. After a moment, Sidewinder realized that something was seriously wrong, and kicked his rotors into high gear, shredding the smoke easily. As the last wisps were dispelled, Hack appeared, leading a red-eyed Sharon by one hand. There was no sign of Gremlin

He looked at Biker. "They escaped." It wasn't a question. Biker shouldered his massive arm cannon.

"Sorry boss, they had some fake cops workin' for em. By the time our friend here," he waved a hand at Polanski, "got the news, they had already finished loading up all the Hellions." Hack was quiet for a moment, before speaking.

"Que cera, cera my friend. We'll get em next time." As he spoke, Jon walked steadily towards the group of injured New Mutants, Sharon following him like a shadow, casting wary looks at all these strange people. As she passed by Briscoe, the officer gave her an encouraging smile, but the cat girl merely shrank away. Jon's arm snaked out, and wrapped itself comfortingly around her shoulders as he came to a stop in front of Shawn and Maria. He looked down at his friend, then looked to Maria. "Take care of him will ya? He needs someone to keep him outta trouble twenty-four seven." He removed something from a chink in his armor and held it out to Maria. It looked like a compact satellite phone. "When he wakes up, give this to him will ya? Tell him he can ditch the disk too." With that, he turned, and began to make his way towards Overdrive with Sharon. Amara blocked his way suddenly.

"That's it? That's all you have to say! Your _friend_ is hurt, and all you do is give him some cell phone and walk away! Don't you even _care_?" Decoy growled, and made a move for his hammer, but Jon held up a hand. He looked at her for a moment.

"Shawn's been hurt worse; we all have. He's gonna be bouncing off the walls in a day, tops, as soon as he stops milking this for all it's worth. As for caring, I care more than you know _Princess_. But right now Sharon needs me more than he does. If he were awake, he would agree with my priorities." With that, he sidestepped the fuming princess, only to come face to face with Dante. "Let me guess, you want to extend an invitation to join the X-Men?" Jon asked in a sarcastic manner. Dante nodded. Jon shook his head.

"Tell the Professor thanks, but no thanks. He may be a great guy and all, but I don't like telepaths. And right now Sharon needs someplace that won't remind her of the Hellions. Besides," he grimaced, "an opulent mansion with a bunch of nosy chatter-boxes ain't exactly a place to heal from emotional damage." Dante nodded, he couldn't argue wit with that train of logic. But one thing still troubled him.

"So where will you go?" Jon merely smirked.

"I've got a place in mind. It may not be the quietest place on earth, but I trust the people. Most of them anyway." That said, he led Sharon around Dante, and over to Overdrive. A side panel of his armor recessed into the armored titan's body, and pulled back to become an entryway into his interior. "Watch your step liddle lady," the vehicle commented in an attempt to sound kindly. He managed it, barely. Scratch and Decoy threw glances over their shoulders at the New Mutants and the two police officers, before turning towards Overdrive as well. Decoy paused, and threw an a slightly ominous "See ya around," over his shoulder, before their two forms seemed to melt and shift into their previous animal appearances. They padded into the darkness, and the armor snapped shut, once more appearing as a seamless plate of metal. The gattling gun on top of the metallic saurian retracted into his body, and his form began to shimmer as he pulled out. The last anyone saw of him was a U-Haul truck turning the corner.

Biker strode over to Behemoth, which, miraculously, had remained completely unharmed throughout the entire ordeal, and mounted up, revving the engine loudly. Behind the New Mutants, Sidewinder began to lift off, his rotors kicking up dust and debris for a moment, before he was aloft. He hovered around the third story level, and gave the group a nod, before turning and ascending, becoming lost in the skyline as he went. Biker flashed a rock on sign at Kid Razor, and popped a wheelie, before tearing out after Overdrive, his wings flowing into his back, while his gun dissolved into a trail of sparkles, which danced on the air for a moment, before winking out of existence. Dante sighed as he watched them go, while sirens suddenly began to split the air.

"Oh boy, now we get to explain what happened to the cops," Tabby muttered, performing a "whoop-de-do" twirl of her index finger.

Later, at the Brotherhood Boarding House-

Todd cracked an eye open from his meditation as a knock sounded at the door, nearly drowned out by the peal of thunder that followed on its heels. It was a miserable day outside, and most of the Brotherhood were gathered around the tv, having completed the chores assigned to them by Coyote and Raven. The only reason he wasn't with them, blissfully letting his brain cells commit seppuku to escape from the inane images the box was broadcasting, was because Coyote had added to his weights, and had told him that performing his ceiling meditation exercise might help him adjust to them faster. Todd hadn't completely bought it, but had found that he actually enjoyed meditation, finding it extremely relaxing mentally, even as it taxed his body, and had agreed to at least try it for a while.

As another knock sounded, he heard Pietro yell, "Hey Buddha, go get the door already!" Todd rolled his eyes, and dropped to the ground silently, before going to the door and throwing it open. As he did so another lightning flash lit the sky, and his pupils dilated in fear, his face losing all color. He closed the door slowly, and tottered into the living room. "Who was at the door Toad?" Pietro asked absently.

"It's for you," Todd replied weakly. Pietro huffed in annoyance, and zipped to the door, throwing it open.

"Whadda you…want…" THUD!

Decoy scratched his head under his beret, and looked at Jon, who was in his armor to keep from getting soaked. "What the hell was wrong with _him_?" he asked, puzzled. Jon shrugged, as Coyote came to the door finally, to see what the hell was going on. He grinned when he caught sight of Jon, who was holding Sharon in her cat form, keeping her from getting wet. "Guys," he called back into the house, "Come here and meet your new roommates."

TBC

Next time, we take a look at how the Brotherhood is adjusting to their new members, and take a trip through the sewers, to see how Slash and Shippo are faring. Until then, Read & Review!

Now for review replies.

BK13: Look, I'm really glad that you like my stories, but you need to practice some patience. Some people, like L1701E, or Red Witch, can churn out great chapters by the day, while others take a long while just to string two sentences together. I fall in the middle of the two extremes. So please, don't hassle me. All it really serves to do is get on my nerves, though that one with the definition of 'update' was kind of funny too.

Prophet-Song: Well, whadda ya think?

ViciousAssassin: Hope that this chapter provided your fight scene fix for a while.

Andivari: Thoroughly impressed huh? Cool!

Fireinu: Yeah, I kind of remember the Swatkats. And yes, their glovatrixes were mondo-cool! I haven't seen it in such a long time that I can't really remember everything but the basic stuff about the show though.

SickMindedSucker: Well, it may not have been a complete victory, but hey, you win some, you lose some. And Emma almost got run over by a runaway tank, so it's all good, right?

Ancient Vampire: Thanks for the encouragement man, I'll try to keep it up.

Raelina: Actually, Jamie getting some more training's a really good idea! Thanks, I'll see what I can do with it.

L1701E: Thanks man. Razor may not have lived up to the potential he could have had in this chapter, but I think he played his role very well, don't you?

X00001: Well, I think that Hack managed to turn things around nicely.

ProfessorSpork: Thank you. I think that that sums up everything quite nicely.


	34. Catching Up

Last time on Take the Long Way Home: Last time, a brutal fight in Cleveland culminated with the Hellions getting thoroughly thrashed by a team-up between Hack's crew, and Kid Razor. Sharon Smith, the Hellion known as Catseye, was rescued from the control of Emma Frost by her boyfriend, one Jon "Hack" Lutz. The X-men extended an invitation to the two teens, and Hack's team of sentient computer programs, to come live at the Institute. Hack turned them down, opting instead for the humbler environs of the Hood Boardinghouse. And now we see how all of the members of the Triad are coping with their specific situations.

AN: Well, I'm back now, and going strong folks! Finished with Basic and A School, and have reached my first duty station, La Madd Italy! And I'll be going to the Dark Continent in a few months, so updates'll still be a bit sporadic, to say the least. But at least this time I'll have ready access to my comp so I'll be able to write still.

PS. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and have a great New Year!

Chapter 34- Catching Up

Calm.

That was the only thing that Sebastian felt. The demon/mutant hybrid was sitting in a lotus position near one of the walls of the Alley. His eyes were closed, his expression stoic, and his sword lying next to him.

He took a slight breath through his nose, and his lips twitched downwards in the barest of frowns. He smelt…anger. Anger and a strange…_wrongness_. There were many in the Morlocks that smelt of anger when he passed by, thinking that he didn't deserve to be there; those that felt that he seemed to act like he was superior to them. But only one person had that strange _wrong_ smell. He cracked open one eye, and bit back a groan.

Standing above him, tail twitching in agitation, was Feral, glaring down at him. "Yes?" he asked in a weary tone, already knowing what was going to happen. It had been the same thing for the last week.

"You're in my spot," Feral snarled. Slash made a mighty effort, and actually succeeded in _not_ rolling his eyes. Down the way, some of the other mutants stopped in their various activities to watch. Feral had been trying to pick a fight with the newcomer for days now, without any noticeable success. Perhaps this time Sebastian would lose his temper?

"I don't believe so. Yesterday, I was meditating in that corner," Slash pointed to a corner that was slightly more shadowed than the rest of the Alley, "and you said that that was "your spot". Now correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're just trying to agitate me into fighting you. Correct?" Feral ignored his impeccable line of logic, instead changing to a new tactic.

She reached down for the Tetsusaiga. "Nice knife," she sneered. But before she could get her hands on it, she found herself looking into cold amber eyes, her wrist caught in a grip that made a vice look weak.

"Yes it is," Slash said in a freezing tone, "and if you want, we can go somewhere out of the way, and you can get intimately acquainted with it." Feral's eyes lit up in triumph, as she opened her mouth to retort.

At that precise moment, Spyke stepped up, scowling. "That's enough Feral, we don't need you picking fights with the newcomer." Feral scowled, and muttered something under her breath as she turned to leave. Slash's ears perked up.

"And exactly when did you see _that_?" he hollered after the feline mutant. The back of Feral's neck colored, and she stepped up the pace of her walk. Spyke shot Slash a look. "Don't ask," the dog-eared teen deadpanned. Spyke nodded distractedly. "Did you need something, or were you just preventing an altercation."

"It's your turn to take a watch."

"And who will be watching me during my watch?" Spyke raised one jagged eyebrow. "I'm not stupid Spyke, I know that neither you nor Callisto really trust Shippo-sensei or I enough to take a watch on our own. Speaking of which, where did he go?"

"Capybara and Thorn will be joining you on your watch. And Shippo went with Callisto and Exo on a supply run." Slash raised a single brow, prompting an explanation from Spyke.

"Your mentor may be annoying, but he's very good at creating illusions... however he does it." Slash's eyebrow rose higher.

"So you still don't believe that Sensei is a demon?"

"Would you?"

Slash thought for a moment. "I guess not, given the situation. If our roles were reversed, I'd think that he was a mutant too. But they're not, and I know what he is, even if you doubt his word." Evan ignored the silent accusation of mistrust, plodding alongside the amber-eyed mutant for a few minutes in silence. He broke the silence after a few minutes.

"Look, we can't afford to take any chances, you know? We've been lucky that no humans have come looking for us yet, and a lot of us are concerned that you two are gonna end up selling us up the river." Sebastian snorted, noting the clear division of 'them' and 'us'.

"And what would I gain from doing that? Material wealth? I can create diamonds from gravel and gold from scrap steel. A "cure" for my "condition"? I've never really cared about outward appearances. Human allies against some obscure foe? My friends and I have been called a three man natural disaster by some of the most powerful fighters in the underground. So what do I have to gain from selling the Morlocks out?"

Evan appeared to think it over for a moment. "And what about Shippo?"

Slash let out a bark of laughter that reinforced his canine appearance. "What could Shippo-sensei possibly gain from selling out a bunch of mutants that remind him of the straights his own people are in?" At Spyke's skeptical glance Sebastian elaborated.

"All the Youkai have gone into hiding, been assimilated into the human world as anything from high-ranking businessmen to janitors depending on their type and rank, or simply faded away like smoke on the wind, a forgotten memory of a sometimes benign boogey-man. The only thing that keeps him from going out and pulling pranks all day is the promise he made to my ancestors."

Evan just shrugged, unable to find any holes in the white-haired boys logic. As they rounded a bend, the conversation turned to a different subject. "You know, maybe you should start wearing a cap or something, those ears of yours really seem to devastate most of the ladies down here, and we need everyone to be on the alert. And having over half the female population drooling over you isn't exactly making you popular with the other guys down here either," Evan added, enjoying seeing the stoic young man squirm when the topic changed to girls.

Sebastian sighed. "I'm sorry Evan, but I can't bring myself to put a cap on. It hurts my ears and muffles my hearing. Plus even then the girls would come after me because of my hair, or my eyes, or simply for my physique in general." Evan nodded, ceding the point. Most Morlock men were… scrawny, to put it kindly, from their limited diet. Sebastian on the other hand, was lean, but toned, and looked all the more dangerous for it. And as all men knew, most girls loved the dangerous ones.

As the two rounded another bend they came in sight of Thorn and Capybara near one of the many entrances to the Morlock tunnels. A grate that presumably led to the street allowed a grid of light to fall into the space. The rat-man was quietly speaking to two of the oversized rodents that made up his intelligence network, while Thorn was practicing growing a small shrub and then shrinking it back to seed form in a small patch of dirt she had found in one of the patches of light. 'So she can reverse plant growth as well as enhance it,' Sebastian thought, 'Interesting.' As the two neared Capybara and his two scouts looked up, while Thorn continued to concentrate on the small shrub, lifting her hands as if in prayer as it grew upwards, then spreading them out as pale, delicate flowers blossomed.

For a moment their delicate scent teased the mutant hybrid's nose before she made another gesture, causing the shrub to dwindle back into a small seed. The scent of the flowers lingered in the fetid air for a moment, ghostlike, before being overwhelmed by the normal stench of the sewers. Sebastian gave a gusty sigh in disappointment, and Thorn's head jerked up at the sound, breaking through her semi-trance.

"What took you?" Capy asked. Spyke gave a tired sigh.

"Feral." The one word answer was enough, both Capy and Thorn nodded in understanding.

"She and her sister are so different, if it wasn't for the physical similarities you'd hardly be able to tell they were siblings," Capy remarked.

"Maybe sisters by blood, but not in spirit," Sebastian returned, setting himself down in a corner and almost immediately assuming a cross-legged position, the Tetsusaiga cradled in the crook of his arm as he bent his head down. To the casual observer it looked as if he was sleeping, but the others could see that he was on full alert. What gave him away was the constant twitching of his ears and how he would take a deep breath through his nose every few minutes, scanning the surrounding area through scent and sound for anything unwelcome.

Spyke nodded to himself after watching the small group for a moment, then left to return to his duties as co-leader of the Morlocks.

After a few peaceful minutes Thorn looked up from her once-again flowering shrub towards Slash. "Why is Feral so intent on picking a fight with you?" she asked softly. Sebastian gave a small shrug, not bothering to open his eyes. A trace of contemptuous scorn entered his voice when he answered.

"Kheh, how should I know? All I know is that there's something wrong with her." Capy looked over at him sharply at this.

"What do you mean "something wrong"?" he asked in a to-casual voice. Slash gave a one shouldered shrug, his brow creasing in thought.

"I don't know, but it's in her scent. I can usually tell what someone's feeling due to pheromones and body language, and all I can tell you is that something in her scent just puts my hackles up. Makes me feel like I either need to get as far away from her as possible, or neutralize her before she does something horrible."

Both Capy and Thorn frowned at the finality behind the word "neutralize". "But then I throttle my instincts and just ride out whatever petty little squall she tries to swamp me with." Thorn gave a small giggle at the sailor speak, prompting a faint blush across the dog-eared teens cheeks. Capy indulged himself in a small smile as the two teens began to converse about other, more lighthearted, topics, before he began to worriedly turn this information over in his head.

---

The 'Hood House

---

Coyote glanced around the room and sighed to himself. So far the Brotherhood hadn't taken to well to his decision to add to their ranks without getting some feedback from the current members first.

Personally he couldn't blame them, he would have been just as pissed if someone had tried to pull the same stunt with him. However this was a personal favor to Tom, and to a lesser extent to Jon as well.

The hacker in question was sitting in one of the broken down armchairs in his regular clothes, Sharon huddled in his lap still in her housecat form. She had transformed to her human state briefly, but had gone back when greeted by the incredulous glares from the Brotherhood, and not even coaxing from Jon could convince her that they wouldn't hurt her, so he settled for stroking her back, trying to calm her quaking form. Finally she had fallen asleep, more from exhaustion than anything else, but was still curled up tightly. The pendant that Hack had placed on her earlier had converted to a snug fitting collar that wasn't too tight around her throat.

Raven hovered near the young couple, her nurturing instincts battling with the knowledge that anything she tried to do to help would most certainly do more harm than good right now. Decoy and Scratch had reverted to their "indoor" forms, and were laying at Jon's feet, looking around curiously. Biker had left as soon as he was sure the two youngsters were safe, and Sidewinder and Overdrive had been put in "storage".

Across from them Wanda and Todd were sitting on opposite ends of the sagging couch, with Lance in the middle. Pietro, who was still unconscious, was propped up in a corner, a small line of drool slithering down his chin. Freddy had retreated to his sanctuary in the kitchen after glaring at Coyote without even giving the new arrivals more than a passing glance, and the clang and clanks of his movements could be heard clearly. Lance gave the odd couple another once-over.

"Soooo, what's your story?" he asked. His tone, while not exactly friendly, was not hostile either, merely curious. Jon shrugged, careful not to jostle the sleeping form on his lap.

"Ah, you know, the usual. You take a wrong turn trying to lose a particularly nasty virus, log out at the first exit you see and find yourself literally in the lap of one of the most unique, interesting, and beautiful girls you've ever encountered," at this point he was softly stroking Sharon's back, "who happens to live in this big giant mansion with a team of the first mutants outside your friends you've ever met, all of them being taught how to "best utilize their powers" by some weird, but supposedly kindly, woman. After a while a few things about your girlfriend's home life don't add up and you do a little digging into this woman's background." He gave a distant frown as he recollected memories he'd prefer to leave buried, more for Sharon's sake than his own.

"Well you dig around a little and find out that your girlfriend's benefactor is actually a prominent member of a club that's been around for centuries and controls a nice chunk of the organized underworld, and she's been training her students in criminal activities."

Lance and Todd were leaning forward now, their interest caught, while Wanda's eyes showed that she was entranced by the telling. Coyote's ears caught a distinct lack of noise from the kitchen and when he cast his eyes towards the door he noticed that it had been wedged open a crack, Freddy's large frame still visibly moving, but obviously keeping an ear open as well. Jon continued; his eyes contemplative as he continued to stroke Sharon.

"Well of course you try to bust you girl out of this life of crime, and end up getting caught, putting up a fight, and getting your ass handed to you on a plate. So you retreat, regroup, reorganize, upgrade, and go to try again, only to find that your girlfriend's been turned into a mind controlled slave and only some very lucky foresight on your part prevented her memories of you from being wiped out completely." Todd and Lance both blanched at the thought, while Wanda looked horrified. Out of the corner of his eye Coyote saw Freddy pause, before going back to his task.

"You bait a trap, and are skilled, or just plain lucky, enough to have them fall for it, swoop in, and after a kicking some serious ass you manage to get your girlfriend out of said evil bitch's clutches." Jon stopped then, one hand clenching into a fist as he remembered how Sharon had cried almost all the way to their current location, tears streaming down her cheeks as she choked out sobs.

Frost had lost a valuable asset, true, but in Jon's eyes it was only the beginning of the payback he planned to inflict. He would do whatever it took to stamp out the Hellfire club, root and branch, until not even the _name_ of the society could be recalled.

Lance blinked, an action that Todd mimicked, as they assimilated all of this information. Pietro continued to ooze drool in the corner, and the sounds of Freddy preparing something resumed. Wanda looked to be deep in thought, occasionally glancing to Sharon, who was shivering in her sleep as if the very mention of her former teammates and benefactor invited nightmares.

Finally Todd spoke up.

"That's pretty intense man, but why not take your girl home 'stead of coming here? I mean this place ain't exactly the Ritz yo."

A tired, pained look came over Jon's face for a moment when Todd mentioned "home", one that all three 'Hood members had seen before. They had all seen it in the mirror at one point or another.

But before Jon could answer, Freddy nudged open the kitchen door with one hip, holding a tray loaded with sandwiches, a couple of saucers of milk, and a small bowl of leftover beef from last nights roast. He put the tray down on the rickety coffee table between the chair and the sofa, before taking a seat on the couch, Lance moving over to make room for him. He took a sandwich, and, at the hacker's curious look, gave a small nod.

"Well, help yourself," the Texan said, before taking a big bite of his own sandwich. Jon nodded in thanks, before taking one of the bowls of milk and the bowl of beef, and setting them down on the floor for Scratch and Decoy. The two programs dug in heartily, mewing and grunting out their thanks as they ate.

Picking up and balancing the other saucer on his knee, Jon gently prodded his girlfriend. "Come on Cat, wake up…" At her slightly grumpy "meow" Jon smiled. "Freddy made some food. There's sandwiches, or a saucer of milk if you'd _really_ prefer to stay in cat form." Sharon looked up at him, her eyes questioning. Jon smiled warmly at her. "It's okay Cat, I know Coyote, and Shawn's told me all about the Brotherhood. They're good people, and they won't hurt you like Frost did." Jon looked around the room as he spoke, meeting everyone present's eyes, making sure they understood the promise inherent in his next sentence. "And if they try to hurt you they'll answer to _me_." Sharon nodded firmly, as if coming to a decision.

The cat seemed to stretch out languidly, growing in size as she did. Her shape seemed to blur in the trademark of most morphs, the feline features merging with and then giving way to more human ones. In the end a lavender-haired girl was sitting in Jon's lap, cat tail twitching as she warily surveyed the Brotherhood through slit pupils. Her collar had changed to a velvet choker with the pendant stuck in the center. Jon however, was more concerned with the sudden increase in weight on a certain piece of flesh that was very dear to him.

"Cat," he squeaked, "shift weight, _please_!" Sharon cocked her head at him for a moment before realizing the source of his distress. One hand flew up to cover her mouth as she shifted so that her weight wasn't so…centered on his lap.

"Oh Jon-jon, Catseye is so sorry!" she apologized. Jon let out a sigh of relief, his voice cracking slightly as he answered.

"_I_t's ok_ay_ Cat, you didn't _re_alize," he soothed, wincing internally at the sharp rises in his voice.

Fred was chuckling behind his sandwich, while Todd and Lance weren't so kind, laughing outright at the somewhat diminutive teen's misfortune. Wanda was giggling slightly, before sharply reminding herself that she had a reputation to keep and giggling was _not_ part of it. Jon just glared at them as if insulted, before giving a weak smile as he thought how it would have looked to him.

All the laughing had the unforeseen side effect of waking up Pietro. The silver-haired speedster grunted, before sitting up. He wiped the drool from his chin, making a disgusted face, before looking around to see what all the laughter was about. His eye immediately fell on Sharon, and the playboy instincts kicked in.

He zipped over to the armchair, grabbing one of Sharon's hands in his own. "And who might you be?" he leered at her, before attempting to kiss the back of her hand. Attempting, but not succeeding, as he suddenly felt his arm from the elbow down go numb, while pain radiated from the area above the elbow. He squawked in confused pain, dropped Sharon's hand, and tried to pull away, only to find his elbow in a pincer-like grip. On the other end of said grip, Jon growled.

"She _might_ be my girlfriend," the hacker snarled. "And she _might_ have had an emotionally traumatizing day, and she _might_ not need some lecherous little prick trying to get into her pants. And I _might_ remove some vital pieces of flesh from south of your waist if you _ever_ try to hit on her again. Do we have an, _understanding_?" He tightened his grip on the last word. Pietro whimpered and nodded, and Jon's attitude suddenly did a complete one-eighty. "Good," he said in a much friendlier tone, letting go of the other boy's elbow. Pietro was across the room in a flash, wincing as the circulation and feeling began to return to his lower arm, making it feel like he was getting stuck with pins and needles.

"Razum-frazum so-and-so," he muttered under his breath.

Lance nodded to himself as if coming to a decision, before looking over to Coyote. "So…where exactly are they going to be staying?" he asked casually. Jon looked at him, gratitude in his eyes, while Sharon seemed to get a bit more nervous. She knew that they weren't going to let her and Jon room together, and that made her jumpy. Coyote seemed to consider it for a moment, before snapping his fingers.

"Todd, you've got an extra bed in your room right?" Todd nodded slowly, and Coyote turned to Wanda, "And you've got one as well, right?" Wanda nodded warily, not liking where this was going. She liked her space, and judging by the grudging face Todd was making, so did he. Coyote grinned as if he thought this the greatest idea in the world. "Well then, there you go. Wanda can share her room with Sharon and Todd can share with Jon."

At this announcement Sharon made a little whimpering sound at the thought of being in close quarters with this scary looking girl without anyone she knew around. Raven put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I think it might be a good idea for one of these two," she pointed at Decoy and Scratch, who were sleeping contentedly on the floor now, their stomachs full and warm, "to sleep in the same room with Sharon; if that's okay with you of course hon," she added, looking at Wanda.

Wanda thought about it for a minute. With one simple word she could keep her private space all to herself, and oh how tempting it was. But looking at Sharon's scared face, she couldn't help but remember her experiences in the asylum, the aching loneliness, feeling the betrayal of her father. She was slowly beginning to deal with these issues with counseling sessions with Coyote, Raven, and, surprisingly; Freddy.

The large boy really had quite a keen insight into the inner workings of the mind for someone who wasn't a telepath, and he put things into perspective with ease, making what had seemed like towering hatreds and righteous vendettas look almost petty, and in some cases even cruel, with just a few honest words.

In their own ways Lance and Pietro had helped as well by giving her her space, though Pietro had done it more out of fear than anything else.

Surprisingly Todd had helped her most of all by simply being there for her from day one and refusing to let her stew in her own murderous thoughts until she went berserk, instead opting to be her personal punching bag, taking all sorts of abuse and never once voicing complaint or trying to get back at her. She would have to ask him why he hadn't ever complained sometime, no one was _that_ nice… He may have annoyed the hell out of her with his constant use of disgusting pet names, but if one overlooked that part it was almost…sweet.

Jerking her thoughts back on track, she looked around the room. Coyote's face was neutral, as were Freddy and Lance's. Todd however, had an expectant look, as if urging her to do the right thing. Wanda gave a small sigh as she scooped Scratch off the floor, the cat program merely shifting till he was comfortable before falling back asleep.

"So long as she doesn't snore like Tabby did," the goth agreed. She blushed a tiny bit as she saw Todd's face break into a proud smile, before averting her eyes, thus missing the knowing look that passed between Lance and Freddy. Off in his corner, Pietro continued to sulk, massaging his sore arm gently, dark thoughts filling his head as he glared at Jon.

---

Xavier's

---

Rick looked down at his guitar, idly plucking random notes as he tried to get his thoughts in order. It had been three days since the fateful trip to Cleveland, and so far he had managed to avoid Tabby since they had stepped off the X-jet. The flight itself had been awkward beyond imagining, with the two teens keeping at opposite ends of the plane.

Most of the attention had been on Shawn, who had been rushed to the med ward as soon as they had touched down, where he was proclaimed to be suffering from second degree burns and slight tissue damage. He had woken the morning of the next day demanding food and to be let out of the ward. Beast had almost been forced to ask Jean or the Professor to knock him out temporarily, just to get some peace!

On the second day though, Shawn had insisted that he was good to go, and had begun to move around, performing most of his normal exercises without paying a speck of attention to Dr. McCoy's protests. Rick gave a small smile as he recalled what had finally gotten the restless teen back into bed. Maria had come in to check on how he was doing, as she had been for the entirety of the previous day, and had found him doing chin-ups on a pipe that ran across the ceiling. Her angry yells had been heard throughout the entire Institute.

In the end Shawn had meekly agreed to get back in the bed, with the condition that Maria stay with him for a little while. Dr. McCoy had left the ward soon after to see to an experiment of his, leaving the two under the semi-watchful eye of Bahumut. Rick didn't know what had passed between the two, but when he had dropped by later he had found Maria snuggled up against Shawn's chest, tear tracks still evident on her face as she slept. Shawn had been asleep too, cradling the former HYDRA assassin as if she were a figment of his imagination that might disappear if he held her too tightly. As both were still fully clothed Rick decided that this was absolutely none of his business, and after snapping a quick picture (just in case he ever had a need to get out of trouble with Logan), he left the two alone.

Rick winced as he hit a sour note as his thoughts turned to what could, and more than likely _would_ happen, if Shawn ever found out about that picture. He remembered today's incident with the DR. Shawn had somehow managed to hijack the place remotely while Logan was going through a solo demonstration run, and well…

---

Flashback

---

Logan struggled in the grip of the robots, but couldn't quite bend in the right directions to sever their limbs. "**_SCAAAAAAAAALEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!_**" he roared, as the rest of the holographic Rockettes continued to do a chorus line, the ones on either side of him kicking his legs as they did so, forcing him to kick along with them.

Up in the control room, an invisible Bahumut sniggered silently as Shawn's sleeping body was held up in view of the camera by an invisible Smaug, looking as if he were the one using the laptop that the feral mutant could see on a monitor in the DR thanks to a bit of creative rewiring on the security cameras. 'God I'm evil.'

---

End Flashback

---

Rick would never have guessed Bahumut was the one actually doing it, except for noticing that Shawn's eyes had remained closed even as he "typed" on the laptop. And while _Hack_ may have been that good, there was no way that Shawn was!

As the sonic blast-making teen wandered through the halls, his mind drifted to Tabby, and the mess Cleveland had made of his emotions for the girl. Sure he had felt some attraction for the self-proclaimed "wildchild", but still… His mind drifted through what he knew of her, and liked about her. Her hair, her smile, her carefree laughter, her devil-may-care attitude, the little wiggle she seemed to put in her step sometimes… He stopped, a look of consternation on his face as he realized just how many little memories of the girl he had!

"Okay, maybe it's more than a _little_ attraction," he muttered to himself, running one hand through his hair. He shook his head and started towards his room with decisive steps. In a situation like this, beating up on his guitar until he produced something usually helped.

Across the Institute, Tabby was engaging in a serious girl talk with Kitty and Amara on the porch, while Storm hovered in the background, caring for a few of her outdoor plants, and ready to lend a sympathetic motherly ear, or some sage female advice, should the blonde be in need of either.

"So is he a good kisser?" Amara asked. Tabby hesitated, a light blush staining her cheeks. In the background, Storm chuckled to herself. 'Well this is certainly a first, Tabby unwilling to talk, about a boy no less.'

Kitty leaned forward, curiosity akin to her namesake's gleaming in her eyes. "Weeeell, spill!" she demanded. Tabby, for the first time in a long, long time, looked a bit embarrassed.

"Okay, yeah, he's a great kisser, but that's part of the problem!"

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You like him, I'm pretty sure he likes you, so what's the problem?" Tabby shot her a look.

"I think Lance is starting to rub off on you, and not in the good way," she deadpanned. Kitty blushed, but continued her line of questioning.

"You're avoiding the question Tabby."

Tabitha sighed, cupping her chin in her hand and looking as miserable as only a teenage girl can. "I don't know if it was real," she said simply. Amara and Kitty looked at her, a little shocked by how serious she sounded.

"If what was real?" a somewhat curious voice came from behind them. The trio turned to see Maria standing at the patio door, looking a bit sleepy, but at the same time still alert. The girl hung back for a few moments, before a gesture from Kitty had her coming out onto the porch and taking a seat with the other girls. "What did you mean, 'I don't know if it was real'?" she asked again.

Tabitha sighed. "If the feelings behind that kiss back in Cleveland were real," she explained in a tired voice.

Storm could only shake her head as Amara and Kitty tried their best to counsel their friend, while Maria merely sat there quietly, trying to absorb the scenario and make sense of it; somehow.

Ah, to be a teen again.

---

An Undisclosed Location

A man sat at a desk, writing on small scrolls in a neat, flowing script. As he wrote, he would consult the screen of a computer that sat to the side. On the screen was a long list of names. As his eyes ran across the list once more, a series of names caught his attention.

He reread them, and then chuckled. "Well, it seems this year's tournament will be most…interesting." He chuckled quietly to himself once more, before grabbing a handful of the small scrolls and beginning to write on them. On the screen, the names that had caught his attention continued to sit unobtrusively amongst the rest: Shawn O'Reily, Tom O'Reily, Jon Lutz, Sebastian Kamiya, Remy LeBeu, and Adam Krupner.

---

To Be Continued

Well, that's the latest chapter! Next time, the X-men, Brotherhood, Acolytes, and Morlocks are brought into a world that not even Magneto could have envisioned, a world that the members of the Dragonfire Dojo know all to well. A world of shadows and rivalries; where logic is sometimes nonsense and sometimes nonsense is the only logical course of action; the world of underground martial arts tournaments. But these are no ordinary marital artists, and this will _NOT_ be an ordinary tournament.


	35. Tournament of the Black Tear Arc: Part 1

AN: Hey folks, chapter 35 is here. I'll give you all fair warning, some of the material here is a bit darker than my norm, but the real world had to catch up to Shawn and his friends eventually, right? But don't worry, my normal skewed sense of humor will shine through in the end!

Chapter 35: Tournament of the Black Tear Arc: Setting the Stage

Tom O'Reily surveyed his property with a sigh, before going back inside the dojo. It was so quiet now…

Ever since Tom had returned home from his visit with his nephew things had gone from bad to worse. Jason Lutz, Jon's father, had rallied most of the town against him for "harboring those mutant freaks". Most of his students had been pulled from his classes, against their wills, by their parents, and those that had continued to attend had been abused, both verbally, and then physically by the worst of the town. Only the timely intervention of TsuyoshiKamiya, Sebastian "Slash" Kamiya's grandfather, known as Old Man Kamiya to the majority of the town ("Yoshi" to his friends), had prevented one of Tom's female students from being raped by a group of local thugs as an "example".

All five of them were currently taking up space in the county ICU. Tom was _almost_ positive that they'd show signs of brain activity before the Y3K bug got them. Maybe. At least they still had their lives.

It was more than Tom would have left them with.

Tom had cancelled all classes after that, at the same time spreading the word through the local underground that if any more of his students were threatened in any way, shape, or form, then he would start calling in favors from both sides of the law, and it would _not_ end well for the idiots who initiated it. Word got out fast, No one messed with the people under The O'Reily's protection if they liked breathing.

Right now the town was split down the middle on whether they should continue as normal, or drive both Tom and the Old Man out of town. Old friends were turning against one another as the infrastructure of the town crumbled. Tom hated it. He'd moved here because it was peaceful, because no one seemed to harbor any hatred against their neighbors. But with the revelation that at least three of their number had been mutants, the veneer of gentility was stripped away, leaving a raw, ugly face in its stead.

'Maybe it's time to take a vacation,' Tom thought, when a sudden commotion clamored through the house. An old Asian man with a thick mustache appeared, dragging something behind him. His iron-gray hair was in a shoulder length pony-tail, and he was dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt and shorts. A shoto was tucked through his belt, the twenty-two inch, heavy wooden sword much, _much_ more dangerous than it looked, especially in the seeming geezer's rough hands.

"Yo Tom, I caught this dude sneaking 'round the house, thought you might want to have a chat with 'em before I kicked his punk ass to the curb." Tom gave a wry chuckle. While Old Man Kamiya may have looked like an eccentric New Age Mr. Miyagi, he certainly didn't _talk _like one. Pushing the brief moment of levity away, Tom looked the man up and down.

The intruder was dressed in standard ninja garb, colored a dull smoky gray. He would have been fairly tall standing, an inch or two below six feet perhaps, a shock of red hair peeking out from his hood. Tom's sharp eyes suddenly focused on the man's hands. "Eh, what's this?" He bent down and tugged a small scroll from the man's clenched hands. The scroll was sealed with old fashioned sealing wax, and a seal in the form of a series of kanji was pressed into it. Tom's eyes lit as he recognized the seal, and the reason behind it.

"Hey 'Yoshi, what would you say to a little road trip?" Even as Sebastian's grandfather began to demand an explanation as to what the _HELL_ he was talking about, a plot began to worm its way through Tom's cunning mind.

It was time for the world to learn that not everything was as it was presented by the regular media…

---

The Next Day, New York City

---

J. Jonah Jameson, founder, editor, and owner of "The Daily Bugle", scowled into the receiver of his phone as the reporter on the other end vainly tried to make excuses for the missed article. "Listen you worm, either dig up something worth putting on the front page or you're fired!" He slammed the receiver down on the startled squawk from the other end, before sighing and turning in his chair, massaging the ache between his brows with one hand.

The Bugle had recently hit a very bad dry spell. It seemed that all of the good stories were either happening on the other side of the world, or slipping through the reporters fingers like so much gold dust. Even _Spider-Man_ had been quiet lately! Jameson groaned and covered his face with one hand. "I need some coffee," he groaned.

"Well I'm afraid I left my coffee pot on the ground floor, but how about a chance at not one, but _two _once-in-a-lifetime stories?" JJ shot up with wide eyes, to find Tom seated in one of the chairs opposite his desk, feet propped up and a shit-eating grin all over his face. The ninja nodded. "How ya been ya old newshound?"

JJ controlled himself with difficulty, giving the younger man a strained smile. "I really hate it when you people do that O'Reily." Tom paused for a second, before pouting.

"You mean somebody else took over my job of scaring you shitless in your own office?" he asked with an exaggerated trembling of the lip, and wide puppy-dog eyes. Jameson couldn't help but give a chuckle at the ridiculous picture that the other man made.

"Whadda you want exactly O'Reily?" JJ got straight to business.

"A little positive publicity for a minority that's being maligned for circumstances beyond their control."

JJ blinked for a second, translating the lawyer-speak into plain english. Then his eyes narrowed. "You want some good PR for mutants don't you?"

Tom tensed, anger flashing in his eyes. "JJ if you start babbling the same shit I've heard from nearly every other news cast and rag paper then so help me…" The metal armrest on Tom's chair squeaked in protest as his calloused fingers dug into it. Suddenly Jameson threw back his head and laughed.

"Relax O'Reily, I may be an ass, but I'm no bigot. I'll write the article _personally_. Should boost sales a little, either that or get me stoned as a heretic."

Tom relaxed. "I'd also like for you to host a debate on your news cast, some of the head bigots versus me and a few other debaters." He chuckled. "At the very least it'll give me a list of who to watch out for."

JJ taped his chin and "hmmm-ed". "That's a tall order there O'Reily, but I think I can manage it. But what exactly do I get in return?"

Tom tossed a small rolled parchment to the older man. JJ caught it, fumbling with it for a moment, before getting it unrolled. He read through it quickly, after scanning a small note Tom had added in at the top, before his eyes widened.

"You're willing to risk…everything basically, to take a reporter _THERE?_! **_AND_** a photographer! Either you've got more pull than I thought, or you've got balls of steel! I don't think even the Kingpin could pull something like that and get away with his life!"

Tom shrugged. "Eh, a little bit of column A, a bit of B. The point is, are you interested? There'll be certain restrictions, such as the use of professional names only, the blurring of faces, and changing of civilian names for protection; though that's more for you than them." JJ nodded. He was well aware that the circles O'Reily traveled in valued their privacy over all else. One slipup could result in some _very _nasty things happening to him.

"I'm in. Just give me a few days to pick the right people for the job."

Tom nodded. "I'll come to pick them up in two weeks time, before we go to pick up a few of my students. They're going to be fighting too." With that he ambled over to the window, and promptly vaulted out onto the ledge, before jumping out of sight.

JJ nodded absently, already turning to the phone. "Janice! Get Robby and Parker in here, on the double!" He looked at the scroll once more, before adding, "And tell Parker that this job'll pay extra."

---

Xavier's

---

Logan was sitting at the long table in the kitchen, grumbling into a beer. A few heads poked around the corner, before whisking out of sight.

"See!" Tabby whispered to Amara, "I told you that he was in here!" Rick shook his head in disbelief.

"So that means that Shawn really…?" Tabby nodded so fast that it looked like her head was about to fly off.

"You got it Princess. He and his two ghost-buddies tossed Logan and Scott right out of the Danger Room, and now they won't let anyone in!"

At that moment Bobby skidded around the corner, eyes alight. "Hey guys, Smaug's letting us in to see what Shawn's doing!"

The two girls followed the icer back down towards the DR. As they stepped off the elevator though, Tabby's steps faltered. Rick looked up at the noise, and stilled as his eyes met Tabby's. Emotions shot between the two in an invisible skirmish. Embarrassment tussled with satisfaction, and friendship waged a valiant effort against desire and lust. Love was keeping his head down and out of sight. Then Tabby broke the connection, lowering her head as she walked by Rick, a small flush on her face. Rick half-reached out for her shoulder, but then sighed and let his arm hang back down.

This tension between the two had yet to be resolved, and in the days following the recovery from the Cleveland trip it had only worsened. Now the two weren't even able to speak to each other, even in passing. It was killing Rick inside. When he had first gotten to the Institute, Tabby had been one of the first to make friends with him, and to be honest, he'd been a little taken with her from day one.

As he had gotten to know the residents of the Institute better, all of them began to fall into set places in his world. Scott was the inexperienced leader, afraid that every choice he made on the field might somehow backfire, and so he strived to be the best he could, often taking it into overkill territory. Jean was that little voice in the back of your head, literally sometimes, that asked you if you'd done your homework yet. The rest of the original X-Men and New Mutants fell under easily recognizable categories; prankster, scholar, valley girl, technophile, little brother, annoying sister, defender, mother figure; the list went on and on.

Only two people refused to be categorized. One was Shawn, who seemed to have so many different hidden facets that he was impossible to pigeonhole. The only title Rick had been able to attach to his name was "fighter", and even that seemed inadequate sometimes.

The other was Tabby. No matter how hard Rick tried to shelve her in the back of his mind, she managed to work her way to the front, defying his attempts to tag her; blasting right through any other thoughts in his head.

Speaking of blasts…

As Rick walked into the Control Room, the structure shook from a shockwave that emanated from the DR. Abandoning his rather morose thoughts, Rick rushed to the windows and peered out the glass, noting in passing that Tabby was right beside him. His jaw dropped when he caught sight of the action down below.

Shawn was standing in the center of the DR, a bloody mess. Sweat and blood dripped off of him in equal measure as he tried to catch his breath. Arrayed around him were almost fifteen of the highest level training robots, which were armed with everything short of ballistic firearms. His forearms were distended into scaled down versions of his draconic form's, as were his feet, while the rest of him looked normal enough, if battered as hell.

Bahumut looked on from the control room, a stern look on his face as he leaned towards the mic. "Again Shawn, if you don't take it to the next level you're gonna die out there!" Heads whipped in the ghostly dragon's direction at the word "die", horror etched on their faces. But before anyone could say anything, a deep, rumbling roar seemed to roll through the entire mansion.

Down below, Shawn exploded into a frenzy, moving so fast that he was almost a blur. He ran at the first robot, jumped off the ground, and _ran up its chest_, his t-rex feet tearing the metal like tinfoil, before he reached the things head, grabbed it, went into a sort of handstand on the thing's shoulders, before flipping over onto the bot's back. He roared again as he pulled the robot down after him, throwing it over his head with the force of his momentum.

He didn't let go of it though, and followed it's erratic flight like a kite caught on the tail of a 747, crashing into a small group of the trainer-bots. He kicked off the pile, just as the mass exploded, propelling him into the next group, which was savagely dismantled with strikes to the machine's joints that shattered them like so much rotten wood. He finished the last one off with a heel-drop to the head that caved in its steel skull.

As he stood in the center of the room, panting, half blinded by sweat and blood that had dripped into his eyes, his ears still ringing from the rush of battle, he thought back on the small scroll that was still resting unopened serenely on his bed upstairs, and he bellowed up at Bahumut to send another wave.

'I gotta get up to speed, or I'm as good as luggage.'

---

At the Brotherhood Boardinghouse, Lance and Todd were watching a similar scene with queasy stomachs, while Coyote stood by, stone-faced. Hack was fending off Biker's tonfa, Scratch's chains, _and_ Decoy's hammer!

That wasn't to say that he'd escaped unscathed, oh no. He was battered and bruised, with a small trickle of blood leaking from his mouth, alongside the other scrapes and cuts he'd acquired. Said trickle was wiped away with the back of one hand, before Jon scowled at his team. "Stop holding back! If you want to help me so much, then help me get strong enough to be taken seriously! Otherwise go back in the house and I'll just spar with Coyote instead!"

A screech from behind was the only warning he got before Gremlin pounced on his head, sharp claws raking at his scalp as teeth sought tender areas. Jon shouted, before ripping the goblin-esqe creature off of him, punting the green menace in a random direction. He tried to wipe the blood dribbling into his eyes away, but had no time as Scratch pinned his arms with his chains. Hack struggled to bring one of his daggers to bear, knowing that the links could be pried open with his blade, but froze when he felt the cool metal circles of Biker's berenja pistols against his neck. The virus' voice was soft as he spoke. "Yield Boss, I don't like this kinda training. Spar with Coyote, spar with the rest of the Brotherhood, but don't do this to yourself, there's only so much those reconstruction programs can fix."

Jon stiffened for a moment, before slumping bonelessly to the ground. "Alright guys, I yield." He punched the ground as Scratch's chains dissolved, cursing under his breath. Todd managed to catch the words "too weak", and something inside snapped.

With a bound he was over the railing of the porch and at the other boy's side. Grabbing Jon's collar he shook the other teen like a rat, before locking gazes with Jon. "Don't _ever_ call yourself weak yo. I let people call me that for years, and I'm only in one piece because I managed to find a friend here or there that kept me from slitting my wrists just to get away from my own weakness!"

Off to the side, Coyote mentally noted that it was time to increase the boy's weights, and then find out what the hell Freddy was putting in his cooking. Todd was wearing nearly thirty pounds on each wrist and ankle by now, and his slight frame had barely increased in mass, indicating that "the Toad" was more of a bullfrog than anyone would have expected. And he was still shaking Jon around like a rag doll, so caught up in trying to drive a point home that he was getting careless. Raven chose the moment to step in.

"Todd, let Jon go, he doesn't need to be flung about like that, especially not if he's about to pass out from blood loss." The woman's voice was quite, but firm, with a silent air of command that couldn't be ignored.

Toad froze as he realized exactly how hard he'd been shaking his fellow Hood, and gently set Jon back on his feet. The blonde swayed for a moment, before Lance grabbed one of his arms, steadying him. Wanda appeared through the door, followed by Sharon, whose tail was lashing the air with suppressed agitation. She hated seeing her boyfriend nearly killing himself over something like a letter, and she said as much as she handed off the bandages she was carrying to Raven, while Wanda dumped her own load of medical supplies into Coyote's waiting arms. "Why does Jon-jon have to train so hard; will end up killing himself!" Her eyes went a little empty then as she muttered "and leave Catseye all alone," under her breath.

"I think I should probably explain it for him, looks like that last hit from Gremlin knocked a few sub-routines out of synch in that digital skull of his." Coyote's assessment looked to be pretty accurate, Jon's eyes were out of focus, and he was starting to grin vacantly.

"Oi, lookit all the pretty spots…"

Coyote palmed his face, before turning to look at the assembled Brotherhood. "Okay, the long and short of it is…"

---

The Alley

---

Slash ducked a swing of Spyke's fiery javelin, lashing out with a wooden Tetsusaiga. Spyke blocked, kicking the demonic mutant away. "So you and these other guys that trained at that dojo have to go to this tournament or else you'll be killed?" Slash wiped a bit of blood from a gash on his face off with his thumb and nodded.

"Essentially, but you understand that the "invitation" for family and close friends is something I wasn't aware of, right?" Spyke nodded even as he shot out a burst of arrow-sized spikes at Slash.

"I don't like it, but since at least four people have to come with you, I figure that I better go to protect them. Calysto can take care of things here."

"So glad that you trust me, Mr. In-Charge." Calysto's dry comment caught Spyke by surprise, the teen turning his head to look at her. It was all the opening Slash needed. Calysto blinked, and suddenly Slash was pinning Spyke's neck to the ground with his wooden sword, keeping his body angled in such a way that he could dodge any spikes while keeping the pressure on his opponent's neck constant. Shippo's voice was carefully neutral as he spoke from the corner he'd been observing from.

"I think that's enough for now Spyke. You've both got a week and a half to beat each other senseless in the name of training. Right now we need to finalize the list of who's willing to go to the tournament."

---

Magneto's base

---

Magneto looked at the scrolls that Gambit and Thanatos had handed to him, and raised one eyebrow.

"Surely you can't be seriously afraid of threats from these _humans_," he spat. Krupner slammed his hands down on the desk the Master of Magnetism sat behind, denting the metal structure.

"These aren't humans you ignorant ass, they're **_shinigami_**! _Death **GODS**! _If the-**_urk_**" Krupner was cut off in mid-rant as Sabretooth closed a hand on his windpipe at a gesture from Magneto.

"Curb your temper Thanatos, or do I need to have Mastermind fix _that_ too?" Magneto arched one brow, folding his hands in front of his face. "Now, if you think you can explain without irking me any further, do so." Thanatos glared at him for a moment, before pointedly shifting his eyes towards Sabretooth, who still had his hand locked around the smaller man's throat. Magneto groaned. "For God's sake Creed, let the man breath!"

With a disappointed grunt, Sabretooth let the assassin go. Krupner wiped away some small spots of blood from the feral's claws, and threw him a glare, before taking a breath. "The Shinigami clan is quite easily one of the oldest, well known, deadliest, and most controversial clans of assassins in existence. Rumors are they've offed more than one Emporer, and even took the contract on Kennedy. They're ruthless, they're inventive, they're unpredictable… and they're honorable." The last was muttered almost like a curse.

Behind his hands, Magneto's lips twitched upwards. "And…"

Thanatos snapped to look at him. "And every underworld element with a sane mind heading their organization knows not to cross them if they want to stay alive! Magneto, not even the **_Kingpin_** has been able to cross these guys without coming away with fewer men than he went in with. A _lot_ fewer men."

Gambit nodded. "Oui, de Shinigami be some bad fellas to cross. One of the heads of the Assassins Guild decided they were gunna kick one of dere operatives outta town, a message to leave N'Orleans to de natives or someting like dat." The thief shook his head. "It wasn't pretty. De Shinigami guy left de kids n women alone, at least those that didn't try and attack him. De rest…" He gave a sick looking smile. "Well let's just say dat de family graveyard had to be expanded dat day."

Magneto nodded in understanding. "I see… and what of this proviso that my presence is not welcomed?"

Gambit looked a little nervous now, as did Thanatos. "Um see boss, dis tournament's gonna have a lot of people with a lot of pull on both sides of the law dere, and I guess dey just don' want you trying to take advantage of de situation." Magneto nodded.

"Thus the warning I received that should I attempt to attend, one of these," he held up a slim wooden needle that was about seven inches long, "would find a new home in my brain via the optic nerve passage." His tone was flat, void of anger, or anything else. The Acolytes all shivered, this was when he was most dangerous. Magneto leaned forward.

"Very well, I'll allow you and Gambit to attend this function, along with Mastermind and Piotr. That should fulfill the stipulations these…people, have imposed on me." 'And keep my own skin in one piece, whoever could leave that needle in my private bath while I was showering is not someone I dare cross.' He smirked behind his hands as he glanced at a sheet of paper on his desk. 'At least not yet.'

---

Forge's lab

---

Forge's hand shook as he held the letter closer to his face, peering at it as if trying to decode some hidden message. The letter, from a patent firm called White Dog Enterprises, was an invitation to a meeting between him and a representative of both the firm, and Stark Enterprises, to negotiate a deal for the rights to research and development of his latest invention. He frowned a little as he noticed the place set as the meeting point, even though the letter assured him that the place would be heavily guarded during the negotiations.

"Who sets up a meeting in a dump in New York City?"

---

To Be Continued…

Well, there's the first chapter of this newest arc. It's gonna be a lot longer than Dot Hack Redemption too. Next time, the tournament looms closer as the groups make their final preparations at the end of the two weeks. Who will go, who will stay, and who will show up? Find out next time, in a chapter titled "Gathering the Players"!

AN: Okay folks, I'm back and badder than ever! But I need your help. I need fighters. I've already come up with a few, but this Tournament is the biggest thing in the Underground, and it attracts types from all over. So what I need from you all are fighters with interesting, strange, and if possible, outlandish fighting styles as possible. They can be mutants, meta-humans, or ordinary people with extra-ordinary talents like Tom. Weaponry is allowed, and remember, the more unorthodox, the better. The top three picks will be featured in my story, and who knows, if I like em enough I may bring them back in later chapters!


	36. Tournament of the Black Tear Arc: Part 2

AN: Omega and Bun-Bun are not mine, Omega is Descendant's and Bun-Bun is property of the owner of "Sluggy Freelance" (whom I have forgotten the name of). Banon, Sona, and Kyoushi are not mine either, the first belongs to Firebane5, and the last two belong to Inkaholic, who, incidentally, are the winners of my "OC Fighters" contest! Congratulations guys!

Chapter 36: Tournament of the Black Tear Arc: Gathering The Players

The early morning was silent, save for the soft sound of grass shifting underfoot. Not even the birds were awake in the early gray of the pre-dawn. Inside the Institute, most slept, peacefully or otherwise. Outside though, one member of the extended family that was made up of the X-Men and New Mutants pushed himself to his mental and physical limits.

So slowly that he seemed almost to be frozen in time, Shawn brought his bo around into a defensive stance. Still going at less than a snail's pace, he disconnected the two three foot segments, bringing them into an offensive strike position. Each movement was done with the same deliberate sluggishness, every move, every twitch, ingraining itself into muscle memory.

From the strike position, Shawn flowed into one stance after another, fluidly, flawlessly; and at such a slow pace that he practically quivered with the urge to explode into a frenzy of motion. But he controlled himself, his breathing slow and measured, almost bringing his heartbeat below normal levels as he continued the exercise. Eventually he stopped, bringing the bo back together and into the first defensive stance, a light sheen of sweat covering his bare chest and forehead. The sun was just peeking over the horizon as he scooped up his shirt from the ground, pulling it over his head as he snuck back inside.

He never saw the brown wolf creep out of the underbrush, nor did he see it turn into a wide-eyed girl.

Rahne shook her head, still trying to get the image of the martial artist she had just seen practicing, with the one of Shawn in the DR. But they wouldn't click.

Because the one in the DR didn't have scars…

Inside, Shawn shook himself like a dog as he came out of the shower, idly rubbing his hair dry. He stood before the mirror for a moment; another towel wrapped around his waist, and studied his reflection. Rust colored eyes gazed back at him from a face which still showed hints of his Roman heritage, despite the generations between him and Bahumut. His hair stuck up at odd angles from the abuse the towel had put it through, and he idly noted it was about time for a haircut. Rubbing at his chin and feeling rough patches under his palm, he hmmm'd. "Maybe it's time to start shaving too."

His gaze traveled down, taking in the various scars on his body. Here, a stab wound; there, a broken bottle had barely missed his kidney. Even as he looked at the scars, he focused his mind. Slowly the skin rippled, before appearing as unblemished as always, a few minor marks that wouldn't draw undue attention the only things left of the patchwork that had covered his body.

One of the first things he'd found about his powers was that his skin "healed" itself to a state of near perfection just before he transformed; scars and wounds disappearing in preparation for the growth of healthy scales. The wounds remained gone after he transformed back, but any scars he'd had beforehand remained when he relaxed his hold on the pre-transformation state.

In DBZ terms, he'd been walking around powered up, but not quite Super Saiyin, even before arriving at the Institute. Bahumut held the power levels steady when Shawn slept, or when he let his concentration shift to something else. It was something of a drain on his stamina reserves, but he'd adjusted to it.

Bahumut appeared beside him, hovering in miniature form mid-air. Shawn glanced at him, interrupting his chain of thought. "Kid, you really should stop hiding those things. I mean, transforming your skin partially is all well and good, but you need to trust the guys not to get freaked." Shawn shook his head.

"It's not that easy. I know they're my friends, and I know I can trust them for the most part, but I don't want them to be scared of me." Bahumut chuckled,

"Between Logan and Dante I think you don't have much to worry about kid." Shawn frowned.

"That's the problem right there. I'm a kid like them, not a half-demon or a never-aging amnesiac ex-super soldier." He grimaced. "God, that sounds like something out of a bad comic book."

Bahumut patted his descendant on the shoulder. "Sorry kid, no one said life's easy, but hey, that's part of what makes living so interesting."

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe. Well, better get some food and then go see the Professor. I need to clear it for the others to go with me."

---

Later

---

Shawn rubbed at his forehead in an attempt to quell the blazing headache he had. He was sitting in the Professor's study, opposite the Professor. Flanking the man were Logan, Dr. McCoy, and Ororo. None of them looked happy.

"Shawn, I know that this whole thing means a lot to you, but try to understand, I cannot allow you or any of the other students to go to this tournament. It would be irresponsible of me to let you walk into such a dangerous place." Shawn looked the Professor square in the eye.

"Two words. Danger. Room."

"That is a controlled environment meant to test and improve your control of your powers. Not a gathering of vicious murdering cutthroats," Storm snapped. This debate had been going on for almost an hour, with Shawn refusing to back down. Add his blatant disrespect for the Professor just now and well…

Bahumut appeared next to Shawn; sword casually slung over one shoulder. "Watch it 'Ro. Tom's one of those "vicious murdering cutthroats", along with several people that probably have more honor by themselves than a whole platoon of Boy Scouts does collectively." His tone was friendly, but his eyes were narrowed in warning. "Not to mention that several of them have not only helped raise the kid here, but have protected the boy when some of Tom's more ruthless enemies tried to get at him through Shawn."

The Professor opened his mouth to say something, but Bahumut kept on going. "Look Xavier, this is _not_ something that's optional. Not only is the good name of the Dragonfire dojo and its entire school of fighting at stake here, but Shawn's _life_ is on the line. If he fails to show up with an entourage as specified by that scroll, he_ will_ be killed, and there will be nothing you can do to stop the Shinigami clan from doing it; or him, as the case may be." Logan snarled at the spirit, but Bahumut was on a roll. "If you couldn't detect one of their low ranking delivery boys, what makes you think you'd be able to protect him from one of their Elite? And trust me, they would send their best to take him out, if only as a way of showing respect to his teacher."

Xavier sighed. He may have been eloquent and a good debater, but Bahumut had about a thousand or so more years on him in the experience department, and he knew what he was talking about, while Xavier didn't have the firsthand knowledge needed to make a good counter argument.

"Look at it this way Chuck, the only ones going are volunteers, they get an exposure to different cultures since this thing has people from all over the world coming, and they get to see some of the greatest fighters on earth in action. Maybe they'll pick up some moves."

"But the danger," Beast began.

"Hank, you're more than qualified to go as a chaperone and guardian, as are Scott and Jean. Logan's been banned for obvious reasons, and the Professor's been barred to keep him from trying to turn it into some sort of political thing. Storm… well I don't know why she was on the blacklist, but they don't ban people from the tournament without a good reason. Besides, not only will Tom be there, but I guarantee Coyote will be too, along with Sebastian's sensei, whoever he might be. I'd suggest Dante go, but he pulled a Logan and left on some sort of training trip this morning."

Xavier sighed. "All valid points, and ones I'm afraid I'm not equipped to argue." He tented his hands and gazed at Shawn over them. "Very well, I will allow you to go to this tournament, and to take a group, a small group mind you, of students with you." Shawn raised a fist in victory, but was brought up short by the Professor's next words.

"However, should this prove to be as dangerous as I think it is, I will have no choice but to forbid you from participating in such events so long as you are a student of the Institute." Shawn's teeth bared in a snarl, but Bahumut laid a hand on his shoulder, giving the teen a warning look, before turning cool eyes on the Professor.

"Fair enough, Charles." Xavier winced internally. He'd just made a grave error in judging how much authority he actually had with the boy, and both his and Bahumut's reactions showed that he'd lost a more than a bit of trust with his ultimatum just now. Sometimes he hated the fact that he couldn't read the martial artist's mind, it would have made it so much easier to control the conversation and force the outcome in his favor. He hated having to do it when he did, but it was for the student's own good after all…

Shawn pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. "These are the people I'd like to ask to go." He smoothed the paper a little, before handing it to the Professor. Logan eyed the list over Xavier's shoulder, while Hank and Ororo waited for him to finish. Xavier's eyebrow shot up when he reached about mid-way down the list.

"Why do you want Jamie to go?"

"An attempt to widen his social circle you could say. If Jamie goes with us it's guaranteed he's going to meet someone his own age who's probably just as lonely as he is. At the least he'll get a pen-pal, and at best we might be able to arrange play dates or something so they could hang out together, and just be little kids."

Ororo nodded, pushing aside her irritation with the younger mutant. "It does sound like a good idea Charles. Jamie has been acting a little withdrawn lately, and he only seems to come out of this funk when he's playing with that raptor Jon gave him." Hank spoke up then.

"I think it's because the two seem to be about the same age, mentally speaking. I did a few tests to see how intelligent Razor is, and the results indicated that he experienced an intensely rapid growth in intelligence the first few weeks, but it's slowed to that of a normal human's mental development. It's almost as if he was trying to keep pace with the person he's closest to."

Shawn shrugged, throwing his two cents in. "When it come to Hack and programming I wouldn't count anything as too out there." Charles nodded, conceding the point, before finishing skimming over the surprisingly short list, which he handed to Hank. The doctor read through it, lifting one shaggy brow at the end as he passed it to Storm.

"I notice you left out most of the New Mutants and original X-Men. May I enquire as to why?"

Shawn frowned a little. "The people on the list are those that I consider either mature enough, or simply smart enough to go to the Tournament and not come back missing a limb because of something stupid." Storm looked up.

"That explains Rogue, but what's the reason you put Tabitha down on the list?"

"She may act like she really doesn't care, but judging by her pick-pocketing skills; she knows enough to tell when a mark is too dangerous. And with Rick there to keep an eye on her, she should be able to keep herself under some sort of control."

Xavier leaned back in his chair, and nodded. "Very well, ask them, and I'll speak to Jean and Scott about going as chaperones with Dr. McCoy, should he agree to go."

"I'm all for it Charles. It would be fascinating to see what types of abilities non-mutant fighters have perfected, especially if they allow them to go toe-to-toe with mutants on an even playing field."

Shawn smiled mentally as he and Bahumut high-fived in the Nexus. "Very well played kid, we set em up, and then cut their legs out from under them. I may make a negotiator of you yet."

"Just call me Roger Smith."

"**_Does that make me Big O, or Dorothy?"_** Smaug asked sarcastically from his cave mouth. **_"After all, it seems that Bahumut's got Norman down pat."_** Shawn chuckled.

"I see you've been looking though my memories."

"_**Just trying to catch up on missed times. Sebastian really is an anime freak, isn't he?"**_

"The correct terminology I believe… is Uber-Otaku."

There was a moment of silence while Smaug and Shawn stared at Bahumut, who grinned widely, before all three burst out laughing. But in the back of their collective minds they knew that this tournament was anything but a laughing matter. The Triad was coming back together, true, but Shawn knew that each of them had changed, though how much was yet to be truly determined.

What Shawn _did_ know was this; they would present a seamlessly united front to whatever adversaries and adventures came at them. No matter what had happened in the time since they had last bid each other good-bye, they were still brothers in spirit.

They were still brothers in blood.

---

The Hood House

---

The entire Brotherhood was gathered in the living room for what Coyote jokingly called a "council of war". Lance held his chin cupped in one hand as he surveyed the room.

Todd was sticking to the wall, as was his wont nowadays, lamp-like eyes going over the assemblage in much the same manner as Lance, thought his gaze tended to linger on Wanda quite a bit longer than necessary. The black-haired girl in question was leafing through a magazine, seemingly uninterested in what went on in the meeting. But there was the slightest tinge of red at the back of her neck.

And since nothing was floating around the room one would assume that she wasn't angry, but that she _was_ acutely aware of the attentions of a certain amphibian. Lance looked over at Freddy who was vainly trying to hide a wide grin, and they shared a quiet chuckle. The large boy had become much more observant than most of the other Brotherhood, seeing important things before others and breaking them down analytically to see how best to manage a given situation. This was due to all the tactical scenarios Coyote gave to the boys as they meditated, which he had picked up on surprisingly fast, showing quite a tactical mind under that mohawk. He was reclined on the sagging sofa, a small (for him) sandwich in one hand

Next to the Texan, Jon was sprawled out on the floor, an arm around his girlfriend's waist as the two of them just enjoyed the other's companionship while they waited for the meeting to get underway. Lance smiled to himself. The two had fit into the Hood far better than he had thought at first, with Jon teaching Todd about computers and information systems, and in turn the klepto demonstrated the best techniques for picking a pocket.

The two had amassed quite the collection of driver's licenses and credit cards, all made out in the names of a Mr. Matthews and a Mr. Kelly, in the one and a half weeks since Jon had shown up.

Sharon was still very withdrawn, but she'd taken a shine to Raven, Wanda and, surprisingly, Freddy. Whenever Pietro drew near her she seemed to get very twitchy, unless Jon was in the room. Coyote, Todd, and himself she seemed to respect, but also seemed to be wary of them for some reason.

Over in a corner, Pietro mumbled to himself as he fumbled with a Rubik's cube. It was a special one that Coyote had given the speedster, with a built in mechanism that locked the cube in place for a full five minutes after each rotation if at least two of the rows on the grid weren't aligned correctly, barring the first ten rotations after its activation. The man had called it an exercise in patience and logic. After the first half hour Pietro had called it several things best left unsaid in polite company. Still, Lance was surprised to note that the speedster had persisted, instead of throwing a tantrum as usual.

Speaking of Coyote, the enigmatic man was perched on the arm of the chair Lance was in, tottering from side to side as he scribbled in a cross-word puzzle. He was an addict it seemed, something Lance would have never suspected of the man. Raven sat patiently in a chair that Jon had crafted, a bright green eyesore that was surprisingly comfortable. But it was only a temporary fix until they could get a couple more chairs, or another sofa or something to solve their current seating problem. Lance shook off thoughts of furniture as Coyote suddenly stood up, tucking the battered crossword book into his pocket, and pulling out a small scroll with the same hand.

"Okay people, listen. I called this meeting because we've got to make some plans. As you already know, Hack's been summoned to fight in an underground martial arts tournament alongside the other representatives of his dojo. He's supposed to take an entourage of people with him, and I figure you guys could use a road trip since you've all progressed so far with your training in such a short time." He smiled at the teens before him, which was hesitantly returned by most of them, with the exception of Jon, who grinned wholeheartedly. "However," the tentative grins faded.

"However," Coyote repeated, "I'm afraid not everyone will be going." He cast an apologetic glance at Wanda and Sharon. The girls shot up in indignation.

"Why not!" Wanda demanded harshly. Raven laid a hand on the young woman's shoulder, but it was thrown off harshly. Several small items began to rise into the air around the room. Sharon bristled as well. Coyote gave them another apologetic look.

"Because girls, the Shinigami have blacklisted you. Wanda, I'm afraid they didn't believe me when I told them you could control your temper (yes, they know about your powers), and now I see that they were right. If you can't control yourself when this kind of news is delivered, then taking you with us would be literal suicide. There will be people there that would jump on the chance to kill a mutant at the slightest excuse. They'd bait you, and then, at the slightest sign of you using your powers against them, run you through, shoot you, or worse."

Wanda shuddered at this information, each word like a blow. When Coyote finished, she was pale-faced and subdued. Todd dropped down from the ceiling, and strode over, placing a supporting arm around the black haired girl's shoulders. For a moment Wanda seemed to take comfort from the gesture, before realizing that there were people present. She shrugged off the arm, and hissed a half-hearted, "don't touch me" at the boy, falling back on her old manner. Todd drooped at the backslide, but then shrugged it off much like Wanda had just shrugged off his arm. Lance gave a fraction of a smile, you had to admire Todd's resiliency.

"Why doesn't Catseye get to go though?" Sharon muttered, looking a bit put off by the brutally direct way Coyote had defused the situation. Coyote cleared his throat delicately.

"Um yes, well your situation is a bit more… political. What it boils down to though, is that the Shinigami doesn't want the Hellfire club," Jon scowled thunderously at the mention of the organization, "pissed off at them for hosting an…escapee, so to speak."

"So they're afraid of the Hellfire Club?" Jon spat. Coyote shook his head.

"No, it's just that the members of the Council think that having to track down and kill all the members is more of a hassle than its worth to them at this point in time." He gave Jon a shrug at the teen's look of disgust. "Don't get me wrong kid, more than a few of the Council members hate the Hellfire organization just as much or even more than you do, for various reasons. They just can't afford to take them out right now because the majority's worried about the fallout from such an act, such as the final fates of all of the students of the Massachusetts Academy, not to mention they're not prepared to fill the vacancy in the underworld's power structure quite yet. Until issues like that are resolved, they can't move against the Club."

"_Any_way, getting back on track. Girls, Raven's going to be staying behind as well; so I'll be able to sleep marginally better knowing you're keeping her under contr-OW!" Decoy got up and picked up a shoe off the floor, returning it to Raven with minimum drool.

"Thank you," she deadpanned, giving her brother a glare that promised whole new worlds of pain, "for those _delightfully_ tactful explanations of why the girls aren't going." Coyote shrugged.

"Meh, that's why you're here sis, to cover my tail when I bungle the emotional stuff and stick my foot in my mouth. And…" Raven _glared_ at him, "…I'm gonna shut up now…"

Lance shook his head. Sometimes the similarities between Raven and Coyote's relationship and Pietro and Wanda's were scary beyond belief.

"Okay, we've established the girls and I won't be going with you. You boys will, of course, make sure that the house is clean before you leave, _right_?" The boys and Coyote all winced, and nodded rapidly. If there was one thing that Raven hated, it was being treated like a servant.

Fred raised his hand. "I guess that makes tomorrow clean-up day?" he asked glumly. Sharon got up and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry Freddy, Catseye and the girls will help. Won't we?" This last was directed at Raven and Wanda, who both nodded.

"It's only fair after all," Raven agreed.

Coyote clapped his hands together. "Good, now that that's settled we've got three days to get the house cleaned, stock up on food and stuff, and anything else that needs done before we leave." As the rest of the Brotherhood began to move off in different directions Sharon and Jon stood, but otherwise stayed where they were.

"Catseye doesn't like this Jon-jon. Who'll protect you if Catseye not there?" Jon chuckled softly, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

"What'd I ever do to deserve you?" he fondly whispered into her hair. Sharon just burrowed deeper into his embrace. "It'll be okay Cat. The other guys from the Triad'll be there watching my back. And don't forget, the 'Hood and Coyote'll be there too, along with O'Reily-sensei." He chuckled. "Honestly, if anyone _does_ try to attack us I feel sorry for _them._" Sharon didn't reply, content to bask in the comfort her boyfriend provided and trust in him and his friends.

What the two teens didn't know was that Coyote and Raven had lingered outside the doorway and had heard the entire conversation. Coyote glanced at his sister, their bond ringing with shared concern.

'_I don't like this Big Sister, she's still very fragile emotionally. Separating her from the one person she feels truly safe with…'_

Raven shook her head and gestured for her brother to follow her as she walked towards the stairs. _'I know you worry about these children Little Brother, but I honestly believe this will help Sharon and Wanda both. Both have been betrayed by their "family",'_ her mental voice made the word sound like a horrible disease and Coyote had to repress a shudder at the thought of what his sister would do to Magneto and Frost if she ever got her talons on them; _'And both have someone who's willing to do whatever it takes to help them and who they care for in return, though getting Wanda to admit that is as probable as Big Brother Wolf taking up ballet.'_

Coyote cocked a brow even as he began picking up various articles that had been left on the small landing by the teen occupants of the house. _'Now there is a disturbing image.'_ Raven giggled a little at the mental image her brother sent her, before getting serious. _'The point is that I think Wanda can help bring Sharon out of this shell of hers, get her to show a bit more spirit. She has animal instincts on top of her human ones, and they sense that Lance and Todd have the potential to be extremely powerful and dangerous, and seem to _know_ that you are somehow. I hate to see her cringe like she does whenever you three walk into the room.'_

Back in the living room, Jon continued to hold Sharon, still not one hundred percent sure that this wasn't a dream, and he'd wake up to the sight of a mind-controlled Catseye preparing to tear his throat out, Frost's triumphant smirk in the background. He shook himself mentally to get that image out of his head, and placed a light kiss on Sharon's temple. She was safe, and away from Frost. With Raven, Scratch and Wanda here while he was gone, she would remain that way.

He'd always been the one in the background back home, while Sebastian and Shawn flirted outrageously, and now that he'd found a girl that he loved, and who seemed to return that love, he was going to make sure that no one threatened her ever again. Idly, he wondered what the others would say about his protectiveness.

---

Morlock Tunnels, The Alley

---

Sebastian crossed his arms in front of him, a grim look of finality on his face. "Forget it Spyke, there is no way in all the hells that I'm taking Feral with us. That crazy bitch'll try to kill someone! This tournament is not for the psychopathic!"

"At least not psychopathic _spectators_," Shippo muttered under his breath.

The demon/mutant hybrid and his kitsune teacher were sitting in one of the corners in the Alley with Spyke and Calisto, trying to decide who was going to go with the two to the Tournament. Spyke had already been decided, so they only needed three more, since Shippo was technically part of Sebastian's "entourage". Both Morlock leaders had been tossing out names of some of the fiercest fighters in the Morlocks, and each and every one had been shot down in flames by the dog-eared teen. Shippo was content to sit back and let his charge handle things for the most part, but he was swiftly getting annoyed with their lack of progress. He cracked one eye from where he was lying against the wall and glared at Calisto.

"Look, we're getting nowhere. Instead of just tossing out random berserkers for Sebastian to shoot down, why don't you try listening to what the boy thinks would make an acceptable teammate, because let's face it, they're going to need to be able to work well together, even if it's outside of battle, to prevent an incident." Calisto nodded slowly, while Spyke folded his arms like a petulant child.

Sebastian closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes again, looking significantly calmer. "Alright, he sighed, "here's what we need. We need people who won't fly off the handle, who won't immediately assume every curious glance is a death threat, and that every question is loaded with the intent of finding out how to wipe out mutants."

"Well that eliminates everyone on my list," Spyke grunted in a semi-joking manner. Sebastian ignored him.

"We need people that will keep their mouth's shut, and know how to bow out of a situation gracefully, who don't really look all that intimidating, but are powerful enough to get some respect." Calisto raised a brow.

"It sounds like you've already got someone in mind." Sebastian nodded.

"Thorn, Capybara, and Lizard-lips are the three that best fit those criteria out of the Morlocks I've talked to." One of his ears flicked off to one side, and he cast a sidelong glance at Shippo. Through the fox never looked at his student, he inclined his head slightly, as if about to nod off, before two of his tails shot out from under him and into a shadowed crevice in the wall. There was a squawk of surprise from the hole in the wall, before the appendages gently extracted a sheepish looking Exo and a pouting Torpid from their hiding place. The girl had her over-sized arms crossed in front of her, and was shooting an "I-told-you-so" glare at Exo, who looked like he was halfway to transforming into a clockwork mouse just to get out of this situation.

Shippo deposited the two directly in front of Spyke and Calisto, who were giving the two children disapproving looks. "What were you two doing back there?" Spyke growled, unconsciously imitating Logan. Exo and Torpid both gulped, before the young boy visibly gathered his courage.

"We wanted to go too, but we knew you wouldn't let us. So we were going to find out where you're all going, and then follow you there." Shippo raised a brow and smiled.

"Sneaky, cunning, and semi-well planned. There's an almost fox-like bend to your mental processes Exo." He shared a look with Sebastian, before looking the two children over with an appraising eye. "You both could be useful, especially if we needed an ace in the hole, so to speak. And you _do_ fit the requirements we're looking for…" Sebastian was nodding at the suggestion from his sensei, but both Calisto and Spyke looked incredulous, and furious.

"ABSOLUTELY _NOT_!" Calisto thundered. Torpid and Exo both cringed fearfully, and she lowered her voice to a reasonable level. Not that she planned on being reasonable about this.

"I refuse to allow two children to go with you on this trip, it's bad enough that three Morlocks are getting dragged into this whole thing as it is, and I refuse to let anyone else get pulled in after you while I'm responsible for their safety!" Sebastian and Shippo both adopted hurt looks.

"So what you're saying…" Sebastian began.

"Is that you don't trust us as far as you can throw us," Shippo finished. Calisto nodded harshly.

"And even less so when the safety of children is brought into the equation," she confirmed. She glared at Shippo. "Especially since you proposed that completely _suicidal_ scheme of yours." Sebastian threw a questioning look at his sensei, but the fox merely motioned for him to be patient, before tucking both hands behind his back and leaning against the wall. Sebastian nodded and settled back, he trusted his sensei enough to expect an explanation sometime later, if not in the immediate future.

Shippo sighed in defeat. "Fine then, we'll play it your way. Are there any objections to asking Thorn, Capybara and Lizard-lips to go then?" Calisto sighed and held her forehead, waving the fox away with her other hand.

"Yes, yes, ask them already, just go!" Shippo nodded and rose sinuously, Sebastian mirroring the fox's motions. As Shippo passed Exo, he seemed to stumble over a crack in the cement, catching himself, but not before gently bumping into the young boy.

"Sorry about that Exo," the kitsune apologized, ruffling the boy's hair. Exo scowled and jerked out from under the clawed hand. He _hated_ having his hair touched. As he raised one hand to smooth the tousled locks, he realized that the fox had slipped something into his other hand. It was flat and hard and slightly warm, possibly a small rock. Exo absently ran a thumb over its surface even as he finished flattening his hair. There seemed to be something etched into it too. Beckoning discreetly to Torpid, he turned and ran off down one of the safe side tunnels. Glancing down at the rock, he saw that it had a place and time etched into it. The gears began to turn in Exo's juvenile mind, and a smirk crawled across his face. He and Torpid were going to show Spyke and Calisto how useful they could be, whether they wanted to see or not…

---

England

---

A flash of light on bone followed a sizzle of purple energy, before the 'clunk' of a blocked strike sounded through the air. A young woman leapt back, tossing her long purple hair even as she readied the blade of same-colored energy that sprang from her hand to strike again. She giggled a little at her opponent, a distinct British accent coloring her words. "Well luv, you've certainly improved. Must be all the… exercise you've been getting," she said slyly, the innuendo plain to hear. She yelped as a tendril of prehensile bone grazed her shapely bottom, the tip bending back against itself to pinch, effectively goosing her. She swatted at the tentacle, but it was gone before she connected.

Across from her a handsome young man smiled roguishly. "Of course I've gotten better, Bets, with such an excellent sparring partner." Four tentacles of white bone lashed through the air from his arms, but the young woman, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, nimbly maneuvered through them towards her opponent, body-guard (not that she needed one mind you), and boy-friend/lover, Michael "Mike" Nagrite, whom she had met on a trip to America two years prior and hired as her bodyguard in order to bring him back with her to England. She turned a cartwheel, and launched herself at him, tackling him to the floor and straddling his stomach.

She leaned over him, holding the knife of psychic energy to his throat, and purred in his ear. "Got you now." Mike just grinned at her, before his bone tentacles looped around her upper torso and shins, pinning her arms and legs together. He hefted her off him, and leered at her as she squirmed.

"Who's got who?" he grinned, the tips of his tentacles beginning to tickle her. She began to squirm even more, laughing loudly.

"Let me go you bloody idiot!" she screeched. He grinned even wider, before dropping her into his waiting arms.

"Have a nice flight?" he quipped, before dropping a small kiss on her lips. She smiled and leaned in for another, but the distinct sound of a cell ring tone caught their attention. Betsy squirmed around a little in Mike's arms, before producing the offending electronic item. She glanced at the number, on the verge of turning the thing off, then did a double take. She gave Mike an apologetic look.

"Sorry luv, but I've got to take this." So saying, she flipped it open. "Hi daddy."

Betsy's father's voice was a low drone over the phone, and even though Mike was holding Betsy pressed against him, he couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. But Betsy's expression told him that whatever it was, was surprising, to her at least. "I don't know daddy, it is pretty short notice…" More droning. "Oh, alright daddy." This time the droning had a wry sound to it. Betsy colored slightly. "Yes daddy, we'll behave. Okay, love you too."

Mike raised a brow as Betsy hung up. "Well…?" Betsy gave him a bright smile, the one she used to convince him to act as the pack-mule during a shopping trip. Not a good sign.

"What do you think the weather in New York is like this time of year?" She was using a casual tone of voice that carried a hint of sugar, her best "you're not gonna like this to much, but we're doing it anyway" voice.

'I feel a sudden urge to say no coming on… aw crap, puppy dog eyes.' He sighed. "So when do we leave?"

---

Cincinnati, Ohio

---

In one of the grungier parts of Cincinnati, a small office building stood on a corner, a weathered sign bearing a symbol made up of three B's inside an O, under which was what looked like a rabbit's version of the Jolly Rodger's skull and cross-bones, the rabbit skull wearing a green beret. The building was given a wide berth, many of the drug dealers and crack fiends that scoured this particular area going to extreme lengths to avoid it. Whatever business this was, the people that ran it were enough to scare a strung-out crack fiend looking for something to steal for quick cash off.

Inside, a tiny shadow sat reading a scroll, while three figures played cards. One of the figures, a whip-thin man with a goatee and a hat that looked like a mixture of a fedora and a ranchers hat pushed back on his head, looked carefully at his opponent's faces, his mismatched eyes, one hazel, the other green; gleaming. Two cross-draw holsters were draped over the back of his chair, with a dark grey duster lying over them. A large black fox lay at his feet, paws twitching as it ran in its sleep. "Got any threes?" he asked the player on his left.

"Go fish," the man grunted. He was a solidly built man of mid-height, with blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He seemed normal enough; muscular, with a farmers tan; except that from the elbows down both arms seemed to be composed of some sort of metal that moved as fluidly as real flesh. A small tendril of the stuff detached from somewhere around his wrist, and absently rearranged the cards in his hand, before being re-absorbed. He locked eyes with the final player. "Well cuz, you got any kings?"

The third player grumbled good naturedly as he passed a card over to his cousin. He was the strangest looking one out of the trio, and at first glance one could even mistake him for a superhero! A dull rocky hide covered him from head to toe, making him an almost exact likeness of the muscle of the team known as the Fantastic Four, the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing, aka Ben Grim.

However a second look debunked that theory. While the Thing was known for being a bright orange in color, this man was light beige. The breaks between the plates that now made up his skin seemed to be filled with some sort of sand, though none fell out of the grooves that contained the substance. He also had a thick head of black hair that was held back in a short pony-tail, brown eyes looking out at the world from under the fringes. He was dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, and two small silver knobs stuck out of the back of his jacket through holes that had been made for them. He also had semi-normal looking hands, although his fingertips were as thick as a newborn child's wrist and as rock-hard as the rest of him.

Suddenly a small throat cleared itself, and all three players stood up at attention, cards forgotten as the tiny shadow sitting at the heavy desk in the front of the room put down the scroll and looked them over, his voice tinted with slight a Brooklyn accent. "Alright you three, here's the game-plan. Since the Shinigami blacklisted me to keep their own hides intact, you three are gonna go and represent at the Tournament, and try to scare up some fresh business. Remember our policy; anything short of genocide is open to consideration. And if any more of those FOH grassroots nuts show up…" the figure whipped out a switchblade with a menacing "ka-klick", "_Deal_ with them. Got it?"

All three saluted crisply, "Yessir Bun-bun!"

The mini-lop rabbit standing on his hind legs on the desk nodded, before twirling and throwing his knife straight at a picture of a symbol that seemed to consist simply of three capital letters, F,O, and H, hitting the O dead center. "I may be a merciless bastard, but even I draw the line at the wholesale slaughter of kids," he growled to himself, flexing his strangely hand-like paws as if he wanted to latch his claws into someone's throat. The "Friends" Of Humanity had better not show its racist little face, or else Bun-bun's Black Ops would tear it off and feed it to them.

---

New York, New York

---

Peter Parker slid into his room, wincing as he tugged on a wound across his stomach. He'd interrupted a B&E in progress, and one of them had had a gun. His Spider sense had warned him just before the shooter fired, but he'd been fighting in a narrow alley, and jumping or webbing up would have gotten him shot someplace worse than his head. So he'd opted for the next best choice, arching his body backwards to let the bullet pass over him.

Unfortunately he hadn't arched _quite_ far enough, and the bullet had grazed his stomach, drawing a line of fire across his abs. Luckily the stunt had managed to stun the shooter long enough for him to web the gun out of his hands and lay an old fashioned Spidey-Smackdown on him. The crook was currently hanging with his buds in front of the police station. He examined the rip in his suit, before groaning quietly and chucking it into his closet, making sure that it was covered well. Wouldn't want Aunt May to find it if she got into a cleaning mood after all.

As he crashed into bed Peter glanced over at the calendar on his wall. The third day from now was marked with a large red circle and a note to pack extra film. He'd also marked it mentally for bringing his spare costume and plenty of web cartridges, especially after what JJ had told Robbie and him. Mutants he didn't really have a concise opinion on, though the more he heard the more he sympathized with most of them; although some of the extremist nutjobs reminded him of some of his own foes. Magneto especially reminded him of the Kingpin; not quite so massive, but equally manipulative and ruthless.

Mercenaries and other types of fighters however… Well JJ had said he trusted this friend that would be escorting them implicitly, but Peter wasn't so sure… He shrugged mentally since he was to tired to do the motion. He'd just have to be extra careful. Besides, JJ had mentioned something about a mandatory truce…

---

Hoboken, New Jersey

---

Three teens sat around a small chemical stove in an abandoned lot. One of them was dressed in a dark green button-down shirt with a golden leaf pattern on it, left open over a black t-shirt with a green and black yin-yang on the front, with baggy khaki cargo shorts and white and green sneakers. A pair of dark green tinted sunglasses were perched on his head above a pair of forest green eyes. His hair was black, short and messy, though two bangs had been allowed to grow out to frame his face, and dyed an emerald green. The firelight glinted off of two small silver rings in his left earlobe. Two swords lay beside him as he roasted a hotdog on a small branch he'd stripped of bark.

Across from him another boy dozed, hands behind his head. He wore a white headband, which was currently pulled down to cover his eyes as he snored. His wild black hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, which bushed out comically behind his head as he lay on it. He wore a black martial arts gi trimmed in white, with both sleeves ripped off, along with pants of the same scheme that were tied with a white cloth belt. He mumbled in his sleep and turned on his side, exposing the Japanese character "aku" on his back. A pair of hard white martial arts slippers were lying about a foot away where he'd kicked them off, a pile of white athletic tape almost covering them. The tape had been on his arms, if the difference in skin color from his elbows down was any indication. He was laying down on a large canvas-wrapped object. It was almost six feet long and slightly surfboard shaped, with a long hilt sticking out of the broader end.

The final member of the party sat outside the ring of light cast by the small stove, reading a scroll identical to the ones received by all other participants in the Tournament of the Black Tear. He was dressed in a black hoodie and baggy camouflage pants. The hood was down, displaying mussed short black hair, and a pair of haunted blue eyes, which were scanning the piece of paper in his hands. Beside him was an open black backpack, which had a small cooler sticking out of it along with a pair of metal studded leather gauntlets.

Absently he reached into the cooler and pulled out what looked like a packet of fruit punch. But the biohazard sticker and thickness of the fluid revealed it to be something a bit more morbid. He idly stuck a small length of tubing into the packet and stuck the other end, which had a needle, into his arm after the air had drained from the tube. All this was done with an air of long practice, not even wincing as the needle pierced skin. He gave a sigh of relief as he held the blood packet up and let it slowly drain into him. As it emptied his skin, which had been slightly pale, began to turn a darker tint, until it was lightly tanned.

The teen by the stove spoke, not taking his eyes off his hotdog. "Feeling better, Banon?" Banon grunted as he withdrew the needle from his arm, the hole in his flesh closing almost immediately. His voice was slightly raspy, as if from disuse as he answered the campfire chef. "I was getting…"Hungry"; and I didn't want to force you and Sona to corral me again by ignoring it, Kyoushi."

The teen with the hotdog, Kyoushi, chuckled. "Very thoughtful of you Banon." There was a moment of silence and then, "What do you think of this tournament. Apparently my parents were involved in it somehow, and now I'm expected to take their place. You and Sano would make a good entourage I think…" Banon finished the other boy's sentence.

"And we might find someone with either a clue about your parents, or a lead to a cure for my… condition." Kyoushi smiled brightly.

"Bingo!"

Banon shrugged. "Eh, not like the last lead did us any good. Those Friends of Humanity nuts were more interested in exterminating us because they thought we were mutants." He fingered the area where the needle had been just moments ago. "Not that they were too far off in my case," he muttered. An empty can smacked into the back of his head courtesy of the formerly sleeping Sona. The headband had been moved back up to his forehead, showing that his hazel eyes were open and glaring at the morose teen.

"Would you quit telling yourself you're some sort of monster already Banon! So you got caught by Morbius and he infected you with his symptoms when he bled on an open wound. Not your fault! You've already left everything and everyone you know just to keep them safe, so stop blaming yourself for the way you are! Me an' Kyoushi found ya and we kept ya from hurtin anyone when you went a little to long without blood. We're gonna stick with ya and try to help ya, so stop with the "I'm a monster" routine, 'cause all it does is piss me the hell off!" Sona sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "And now I need a cigarette." He fixed the other boy with a hard stare.

"Listen, you're a damn good fighter, and you're a good guy at heart. And while you hang with me and Mr. happy-pants split-soul we've got your back, Capiche?" Banon nodded warily, slightly afraid of what the volatile Sona would do next to convince him to stop the well deserved (in his opinion) self loathing sessions he engaged in from time to time. But the teen merely snorted and began to dig in his pockets, before producing a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a battered Zippo, and proceeding to light up. Banon sighed and turned his eyes back towards the darkness. It was his turn for watch after all.

Tomorrow they'd head for the designated meeting place. Though why in the world a ninja had delivered a scroll telling them to go to a scrap yard in New York was beyond him. He sighed again. "Just another day in the comedy of errors that's become my life," he whispered.

---

Location Unknown

---

The FOH representative scowled into his beer as he waited at the designated stool in the bar that served as the rendezvous point. He hated this. He hated working with people who were just as much of a bunch of freaks as mutants. Even more so, in that they had chosen to be freaks! Their arrogance disgusted him, and even though he was a low man on the ladder in the scheme of things, he knew that the "alliance" between the group and the FOH wouldn't last longer than needed. And when it dissolved… he chuckled under his breath, even as he noticed the sheet of parchment under his mug. He pocketed it and paid his tab, cursing all ninja under as he left.

---

All over the world fighters prepared themselves for the confrontation that would come, while wealthy men and women in the know began to place obscene bets on the final outcome, while in the shadows players moved their pieces, setting the stage for a grand battle.

The Tournament of the Black Tear would take place in three days, and it would be like no Tournament before…

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To Be continued…

---

AN: Surprise, I'm still alive! I know it's been a while, and I really am sorry for the wait, but the Navy's been a pain. Let's just say that standing watches sucks, and leave it at that. Next time, Tom returns to the Institute, bringing along some new, and not so new, faces. The final rosters of who goes and who stays is locked in stone, but whose' to say that everyone will abide by it? And what happens when the Triad finally reunites? Find out next time, but until the Read & Review!


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